President India-Pakistan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (IPCCI) hailed the federal cabinet's decision for opening the door for trade with India by raising the numbers of importable items from India from 1946 to almost 5600 paving the way for granting Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India by the year end.
He also welcomed the decision of the Cabinet to do away with the negative list of 1209 items by the end of this year. He further stated that this bold decision by the Cabinet would go a long way in eliminating poverty and help uplift the standard of living of the 40 million people of both the countries living below the poverty line. On the bilateral trade relations, he said that normalisation of trade with India is in the interest of both the countries because it would help them strengthen their national economy and boost their economic activities in the region.
He also suggested that both the countries should also enhance the scope of trade by including investment in each other countries with joint ventures. While emphasising on the need of early grant of MFN status to India before the end of year he suggested that all NTBs in the way of bilateral trade should be removed and all decisions taken in the past particularly the opening of bank branches in both the countries should be implemented.-PR