Love thy neighbour, and also give FDI a thought

India has “in principle’’ agreed to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) from Pakistan into the country as part of the roadmap to enhance economic engagement between the two nations. He said the procedures and the necessary requirements for allowing FDI from Pakistan were under the formulation stage and would be notified very soon. Indian Commerce Minister, Anand Sharma announced that the India-Pakistan Business Council will be set up soon to be co-chaired by both the countries.
His counterpart Makhdoom Amin Fahim Fahim said “We have also decided to open up negotiations in the hospitality, education and tourism sectors and experts groups would be constituted on these issues to work out the modalities for talks,’’. Pakistan and India, the two neighboring countries, which have opened a new gate at Wagah Atari land route on Friday to facilitate the bilateral trade, will start negotiation on opening another route at Tharparkar at secretary level talks next month.
This was said by Shri Anand Sharma, Indian Minister for Commerce, Industry and Textile in a media briefing here at his office on Friday after a bilateral meeting with visiting Pakistani Commerce Ministers, Makhdoom Amin Fahim at Udyog Bhavan. Amin Fahim was currently heading a hundreds of businessmen led delegation to Delhi. The two ministers were accompanied by commerce secretaries, officials and other dignitaries of the two countries.
While replying to a query, Anand Sharma said that new linkages should be developed between the two countries to increase the movements of goods and cargo across the borders. Khokhrapar was already in the agenda of the secretary level talks to be held in May this year. Various prospects of the new route would be discussed in detail by the two secretaries and concerned officials, he said. To another question the Indian minister said that his country was committed to reduce the sensitive list of trade under the SAFTA protocol within next four months. He said that following the pro-active steps taken by Pakistan, India would also carry out a review of the 30 per cent of the “sensitive list’’ as a confidence building measure.
Replying to a query Makhdoom Amin Fahim said that the government was finalizing the MFN related issues and as the cabinet has approved the matter, there was no problem or hindrance in granting the status to India. He said the process was successfully being finalized by the secretaries of the two countries. Fahim said “We have also decided to open up negotiations in the hospitality, education and tourism sectors and experts groups would be constituted on these issues to work out the modalities for talks,’’. He said that the two countries have agreed to have the banking facility to businessmen on both sides and central banks of the two countries were working on it. The Indian Minister also informed that both the countries have also agreed in principle to allow opening of bank branches to facilitate financial transactions and ensure smooth trade. Both the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the State Bank of Pakistan have held several rounds of talks in this direction and a very positive situation has emerged. “Both RBI and State Bank of Pakistan are in favour of opening up of branches on both sides of the border,’’ Sharma remarked. Later, both the ministers left for Attari-Wagah border near Amritsar to inaugurate the second Integrated Check Post (ICT) gate that would pave way for smooth flow of road traffic and provide upgraded and modern infrastructure for both traders as well as people passing the border through the land route.