India-Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IPCCI) President S M Muneer has demanded to implement the agreement between the Reserve Bank of India and the State Bank of Pakistan, which was signed in 2005 for opening of branches by two Indian commercial banks in Pakistan, and two Pakistani banks in India.
Speaking at the dinner reception hosted by Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) in honour of Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and trade delegation, Muneer said that during his visit to Delhi with Amin Faheem the opening of MCB Bank branch in Delhi/Mumbai was announced by him.
He emphasised that without the provision of banking services, opening of letters of credit, cross border transactions of funds and trade could not be taken place. He urged upon the Indian Minister to remove all NTBs (non-tariff barriers) as bilateral trade between the two countries could not be boosted due to Indian restrictions.
He strongly recommend that rail service via Khokhrapar Munabao, bus services between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, religious visits to Lahore and Nankana Sahib, new shipping protocol, deregulation of air services and joint registration of basmati rice should also be revisited.
He suggested that trade facilitation through expeditious border crossings, streamlining documentation requirements, border agency co-ordination, opening of new border crossings, quick customs clearance, electronic data interchange, telecommunications, improved transport links, shipping protocols and easing visa restrictions for businessmen should be carried out immediately.
He further invited the delegates of FICCI and IPCCI to visit Karachi/Lahore/Islamabad to organise business meetings/ seminars and welcome them in befitting manner. He demanded liberalising the visa regime by both the Indian and Pakistani governments as both the countries had agreed to issue bonafide businessmen multiple visas valid for one year for 10 cities and this decision must be implemented as soon as possible.
"Moreover in my opinion the visa should be valid for whole country and not for 10 cities. This will be a great help for businessmen to increase business and also help for tourism in both the counties."
It is also recommended that senior citizens of both the counties may be exempted from visa formalities and they may be granted visa on arrival. He said the trade figures between the two countries was evident that India was a beneficiary of the bilateral trade having export of dollars 1.4 billion to Pakistan in 2009-2011, while Pakistan had a very nominal export of dollars 272 million during the 2010-2011 thus the balance of trade was dollars 1.18 billion in favour of India.-PR