Visit to India will boost bilateral trade: Fahim

Minister arrives in Mumbai on a five-day visit.

KARACHI:

Senior Minister for Commerce and Trade Makhdoom Amin Fahim arrived in Mumbai on Monday on a five-day visit to India along with an 80-member delegation of leading Pakistani businessmen.

Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) President Harsh C Mariwala received the delegation upon its arrival.

While talking to the media at the Karachi airport before his departure, Fahim said his visit to India would boost bilateral trade between India and Pakistan.

The minister is leading the delegation of Pakistani businessmen on the invitation of Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma.

The delegation includes exporters of 28 items including textiles, cement, agro goods, plastics, petroleum, engineering, leather etcetera. Fahim said that the visit will be positive and will make Pak-India business relations stronger in times to come.

More than 250 business-to-business meetings have been arranged between Indian and Pakistani businessmen in Mumbai and New Delhi.

Currently, Pakistan’s exports to India stand at $300 million, while the imports from India are more than $1.5 billion. The Pakistani side is expected to highlight numerous non-tariff barriers, which are impeding bilateral trade growth during meetings with Indian officials and businessmen.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 27^th, 2011.