India and Pakistan will soon sign three agreements on customs co-operation, trade grievances redressal and mutual recognition, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said on Tuesday.
“It is a matter of weeks, maximum. There have been delays in visits. There have been changes in the Pakistan Administration. The Commerce Secretaries should have met three months ago. I am told that after the visit of the Indian External Affairs Minister to Pakistan, the Commerce Secretaries of India and Pakistan will meet in Islamabad. This will be another opportunity to take more steps,” he said while addressing a lunch meeting organized for a visiting delegation of Members of Parliament from Pakistan.
The meeting was organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). Sharma felt that the recent decision of the Indian Government to reduce the sensitive list by 30 per cent under the South Asia Free Trade Agreement would benefit Pakistan. He said that the decision covered all sectors that were important to Pakistan. India and Pakistan need to encourage trade by the land route, which currently was very small, he added.
The Minister said that India had proposed opening of the land route for trade along the Sialkot-Hussenewala border in Punjab and the Munabao-Khokharapar rail route. It is also proposed that both countries would meet soon to work out a strategy on connectivity by linking each other’s Capitals by air. At present, Mumbai is linked with Karachi and Delhi with Lahore. Sharma also mentioned that banks from both countries were also planning to open branches in each other’s lands. Conceding that problems do exist, Sharma said that while he was not trying to simplify anything, it was imperative that irrespective of the issues there must be “maturity, wisdom and will” to overcome challenges that come in the way of building a durable partnership between India and Pakistan.
