President SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Senior Executive Committee member of FICCI Vikramjit Singh Sahney (L) welcomes FPCCI President Zubair Ahmed Malik. PHOTO: AFP
During the last two years, the trade between India and Pakistan has doubled to $2.7 billion, which can be further pushed up to $8 billion through simple measures, said Zubair Ahmed Malik, president of Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FPCCI) while speaking at a roundtable meeting on ‘India Pakistan Economic Relations: The Next Milestone’ organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in New Delhi.
Malik said that FPCCI and FICCI had been working together for two decades to promote bilateral economic agenda. FPCCI would extend maximum cooperation to FICCI in organising the second edition of the ‘India Show’ in Lahore from February 14 to 16, 2014.
Malik also said that strong political will was needed to realise the actual trade potential, which was no less than $50 billion per annum. The FPCCI chief said that both countries should ease visa restrictions to actualise the real trade potential, which would only flourish if free movement of people was allowed, high import tariff as well as non-tariff barriers were altered and issues such as bureaucratic hurdles, and lack of infrastructure were resolved.
“I believe that the Most Favored Nation (MFN) status will not be a death knell for the Pakistan economy as regarded by some Pakistani sectors; it only suggests that for trade purposes a World Trade Organisation (WTO) member country will not be discriminated by other member countries,” said FPCCI president.
Speaking on the occasion, Vikramjit Singh Sahney, Saarc Chamber of Commerce and Industry president, and senior executive committee member of FICCI, said that political will on both sides was needed to exploit the growing opportunities for which reduction in information gap is imperative. FPCCI Vice-President Gluzar Feroz asked India to allow direct sales of certain items to Pakistan like chemicals, dyes and heavy machinery, which will not only reduce costs but also improve relations. Naeem Anwar, minister of trade at Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi, said Islamabad had completed the consultation and hoped that negotiations on issuing the MFN status to India would start soon.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 17th, 2013.
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