Pakistan, India to sign customs cooperation deal soon: Report

Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma says deal will be signed within a few weeks.

India and Pakistan will soon sign deals for cooperation and mutual assistance in customs and trade matters, said Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma on Tuesday as quoted by IANS.

Sharma, according to IANS, said that the agreements will be signed within a few weeks. He was speaking at the India-Pakistan Parliamentary Dialogue meeting in New Delhi.

The minister also clarified that the signing of the agreements was delayed due to a change in key bureaucratic positions in commerce ministries of both the countries, and asserted that India was committed to remove tariffs and non-tariffs barriers to boost bilateral trade.

Earlier, India approved reduction of 30% (264 tariff lines) from the Safta Sensitive list for Non Least Developed Countries (NLDCs) allowing the peak tariff rates to reduce to 5% within three years, as per agreed Safta process of tariff liberalisation on August 17, 2012. India has recently announced of taking out 264 items from the sensitive list under Safta.

Relations between Pakistan and India have significantly improved in recent years. The two countries concluded a new visa regime earlier this year that seeks to facilitate travel and trade between the two neighbours.