Pakistan

Only trade can help normalise Pak-India ties

Bambawale says Indian chamber wants to hold trade show in Lahore

Our Correspondent February 17, 2016

PHOTO: AFP

LAHORE: The road to normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan can only be accessed through trade and the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) can play a critical role in this regard, says the Indian envoy.

Talking to LCCI Senior Vice President Almas Hyder and other businessmen at the chamber on Wednesday, Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale stressed that there was no better way of improving bilateral relations than mutually beneficial economic ties.

Long-term strategy for Pakistan-India relations

He revealed that the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry intended to organise a trade show in collaboration with the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) at the Expo Centre Lahore. The Lahore Chamber should be an active part of this mega event, he suggested.

The high commissioner said the Indian government had recently introduced multiple visas for three years exclusively for businessmen. These include visits to 15 Indian cities with exemption from police reporting. Moreover, the businessmen can travel to India by road and return via air.

LCCI Senior Vice President Almas Hyder said traders of both countries were facing various obstacles that were hampering trade and economic activities between the two sides. He expressed the hope that bilateral trade would get a considerable boost in coming years.

Hyder suggested that regular exchange of delegations would greatly impact normalisation of trade and economic relations between the two countries.

“In fact, we are in favour of regional trade and gearing up for fair competition with India. The potential gains from increased economic integration are large whereas trade between the two countries is unnaturally small.”

Key Pakistani-Afghan trade deals stall on India, souring ties

Hyder was of the view that opening of trade with India would present countless opportunities to both the countries as currently non-tariff barriers being faced by Pakistani exporters were creating enormous problems.

He asked both countries to find ways to cut down the number of non-tariff hurdles because one or two bad experiences were pushing the exporters to change their mind.

He proposed that Pakistan and India should open consulate offices in Amritsar and Lahore for speeding up the process of visa endorsement. This way, the business community belonging to these cities will not have to travel to their respective capital cities for visa which is a loss of time and effort.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 18^th, 2016.

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COMMENTS (13)

hkb | 8 years ago | Reply YE, the HC of India! Your govt is not allowing your cricket team to play with ours and you are asking for trade..... The world doesn't think with your mind, Sir. Hypocrisy and diplomacy are two different things.

Iftikhar | 8 years ago | Reply India is ready to trade (that surely benefit them) but did not ready to start dialogue with Pakistan to resolve all conflicts always search excuses to end dialogue (even non state actor or any other party is responsible to destructive action) as manmohan singh and pervez musharraf draft an agreement on issue but India did not ready to sign meetha meetha hup cora cora thoo Extremists of both sides does not want normal relations between both countries, they are on same page to rig politics for their individual benefits All Pakistani and Indian must realize that resolution of issues in only way to improve living of peoples of both countries and move forward

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Last Man Alive | 8 years ago | Reply Don't know about Pakistan but trade with india sure will help benefit sharifs' ever growing businesses

Bharatiya Australian | 8 years ago | Reply Rightly said IHC..Only increased trades will reduce trust deficit. India is open for business but if Pakistan just remains in its cocoon it will just hamper development of its masses...Choice is very simple...Increase trade and diversify your market and get access to Indian markets as there is huge potential for Pakistani products in India. And by collaborating with Indian businesses, Pakistan will also benefit with big investments which in turn will increase employment and skills of Pakistanis in almost every industry segment.

zoro | 8 years ago | Reply It took 67 years to understand that to you .... May god bless Pakistan ...

cbing | 8 years ago | Reply @Pakistani Lets analyze who is hypocrite. Pakistan bans automobile imports from India under the context that it will destroy the local industry. But all Pakistan does is to import kits of suzuki, honda and toyota as far from Thailand and Indonesia to assemble them locally. All these can be imported from India with much lesser cost and time. And add to that the import of used cars from Japan. Now say, is Pakistan banning vehicle imports from India to protect local industry, or only because its from India? But India never shyed away from importing cement from Pakistan when needed as it is cheap to buy close from home. There are no friends or sentiments in trade.

Pakistani | 8 years ago | Reply Actually if India stops acting like a hypocrite, relations might improve. However, since it is an impossibility so we will always have a problem. As far as the statement of the Indian High Commissioner is concerned, just because he said it, does not make it so. Therefore, we should always treat their statements as hot air.

Vectra | 8 years ago | Reply In dawn some Pakistani member commented How about instead of asking them to lower their standards, we improve quality of our exports. I cannot believe that our leaders or who ever make decisions come up with a ridiculous solution.This is in response to a paragraph in article "ICCI President Atif Ikram Sheikh said that South Korea had placed strict sanitary and phytosanitary measures because of which many Pakistani agricultural products were struggling to find a good place in Korean markets and asked for such measures to be revised." Same is case with India on tariff issue,India will never lower its standard to give space to pakistani export but pakistani traders need to improve their quality to gain access and ensure it survives competition.In India everything now a days is about competition.Americans,Europeans and East Asians all compete and pakistan cannot expect preferential treatment there.

SKN | 8 years ago | Reply By not trading with each other they are just being unfaithful to their own people. Each country can benefit so much from each others resources.

Ahmed Wani | 8 years ago | Reply @Akbarally..... Indian Exports...$477.1 billion: Total (2014)...In 2015 around 515 billion $..... Bangladesh Exports..... $30.77 billion (FY2014-15) Pakistan Exports...Total $19.872 billion (2014-15 est.) So,in short what can pakistan trade....they can only take in chinese toys.....learn from bangladesh....

Akbarally | 8 years ago | Reply Trade with India will compromise 80% of total trade of Pakistan while for India it will not be more than 5%. This will give India huge leverage over Pakistan.

Ahmed Wani | 8 years ago | Reply What will pakistan trade...Its trade is less than half of what bangladesh trades....

G. Din | 8 years ago | Reply In words, simple and straightforward:"Forget Kashmir, It was never yours and it will never be yours. Time to eat the humble pie."

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