Better trade relations between Pakistan and India are the surest and fastest way to improve South Asian economic and political environment, a business leader said Tuesday.
South Asia is one of the least integrated regions with intra-regional trade accounting for almost five per cent which has kept tens of millions of people below the poverty line for decades, said Mian Shahid, CEO of the Saudi Pak Insurance Company. Lauding the initiatives of the outgoing government and conscious strategy for regional integration he called for more incentives to Pakistani and India business community engaged in bilateral trade. The government in this region have traditionally relied on bureaucracies which resulted in slow pace of trust building measures, he noted while speaking at Bedari-e-Fikr Forum. He said that New Delhi and Islamabad should act swiftly to overcome issues like smuggling, circular trade and issues plaguing business to set an example for other countries in South Asia to follow. Mian Shahid who is also Chairman of Apna Microfinance Bank said that normalising relations between India and Pakistan has mainly focused on trade liberalisation while more is needed to ensure considerable change.
Illegal, circular trade won’t boost Indo-Pak economies: Shahid
