Pakistan, India agree to resume bilateral trade

The decision to this effect was taken during a meeting between Pakistan’s Secretary Trade Suleman Ghani and Indian Commerce Secretary Rao Shankar at the sideline of the mini WTO ministerial conference held at New Delhi.

Talking to a private TV channel, Secretary Trade Suleman Ghani said Pakistan and India had agreed to restore trade relations.

Ghani said he told the Indian commerce secretary that Pakistan was keen to revive its bilateral relations with Indian and the ban on trade with Pakistan should be lifted immediately.

He said the revival of bilateral relations between Pakistan and India would be helpful for the masses of both countries. Indian Commence Secretary Rao Shankar also agreed to make bilateral trade relations a part of the composite dialogue between both countries, said Ghani.

He said Pakistan is taking sincere steps to restore confidence building measures (CBMs) with India. We have also agreed to remove hurdles for the revival of trade between both countries, he said.

Priority, he said, would be given to bilateral trade so that investors from both countries could invest across the border.

During his stay in India, Suleman Ghani also met office bearers of the Indian Chamber of Commence and the Punjab and Delhi Chambers and told them that Pakistan was ready to give incentives to Indian importers while India would also have to take similar steps.

After revival of the composite dialogue between Pakistan and India, he said, trade volume between the two countries would also be enhanced.—Online /dawn