LCCI team holds fruitful meetings with Indian traders

LAHORE: Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) delegation, currently on a 6-day visit to India, had a number of fruitful meetings with their Indian counterparts besides visiting various industrial units including Khanna Paper Mills.

According to the LCCI spokesman, the Lahore Chamber’s former Senior Vice President Sohail Lashari is leading the delegation while Khamis Saeed Butt is the deputy leader of the delegation. During the meetings with Indian counterparts, Lashari expressed his dismay over the low volume of trade between India and Pakistan. He said India and Pakistan should promote regional trade on the pattern of Asean, EU and Nafta to boost bilateral trade. He said promotion of trade is the only way to minimize political tension in the region.

The two neighboring countries should not mix trade with politics and business community should be allowed to carry on trade without hurdles. “If we would have strong trade relations the political relations would get better automatically,” he said. He stressed the need for promoting border trade particularly through land routes which is in favour of both the countries.

Speaking on the occasion, Suneet Kochhar, Director, Khanna Paper Mills Ltd said that LCCI has been quite active in taking up matters of trade and industry with the Pakistan government. He said India and Pakistan share the same trust with destiny, history and culture. Together accounts for roughly 80 percent of the GDP of Saarc countries.