SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), President Vikramjit Singh Sahnay Friday hailed the decision of the Pak cabinet for ratifying the Pakistan-India visa regime agreement.
In a message sent to VP SAARC CCI,Pak chapter Iftikahr Ali Malik, the SCCI chief said that it was a bold and historic decision by Pakistan to simplify the cumbersome procedure for the grant of visa with a view to promote people to people contact.
He said that the epoch making decision would greatly help enhance trade and boost business activities between the two countries.He said that multiple entry on one year visa with exemption from police report and increase in the number of cities for visa holders would ensure smooth and frequent exchange of traders delegations of private sectors.
Vikramjit said that the visa regime agreement singed by the former Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna and Pak Interior Minister Rehman Malik would prove a milestone in the economic history of the either country for further cementing Pak-India relations besides strengthening trade in addition to taking full benefits of technical expertise in different fields.
He said that free movement of the business community would not only help improve the business environment but also positively affect the entire region of South Asia.
The SCCI Chief said that Pakistan and India,with the support of their private sector, have taken historic steps to normalize bilateral trade relations. South Asia is the fastest growing region in the world but also one of the least integrated while the region’s trade with the rest of the world is growing rapidly, intra-regional trade is merely 5 per cent of its total trade, he added.
Vikramjit said that despite being natural trade and investment partners, the volume of trade between Pakistan and India, the two largest economies of the region, had been extremely low. He said that for instance, total trade between Brazil and Argentina amounted to US$33 billion in 2010, almost 15 times more than the current Pak-India trade of little over US$2 billion. He said that it was worth mentioning that Argentina and Brazil too had a turbulent past of war and fierce rivalry.
He said that bilateral trade between Pakistan and India a couple of years ago stood at an estimated US$1.83 billion. India accounts for nearly 1.2 per cent of Pakistan’s global exports, while Pakistan accounts for less than 0.9 percent of India’s global exports, he added.
Iftikhar Ali Malik said that the private sectors of either country had to play a key role in the prevailing situation for viable and sustainable better trade relations for the welfare of people of the region. He said opening of proper trade within the ambit of law between the two countries would help check billions of dollars of irregular and illegal trade (smuggling) through land and sea routes.
