The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) vice president and head of 10-member visiting Indian delegation Arun Kumar Sexena on Wednesday advocated barrier-free Pak-India trade and called for exploiting proximity advantage between the two countries.
Arun Kumar Sexena was speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry. LCCI President Farooq Iftikhar, President-elect Engineer Sohail Lashari presented address of welcome while Vice President Mian Abuzar Shad, Vice President SAARC Chamber of Commerce Iftikhar Ali Malik, Vice President-elect Kashif Anwar, Chairman LCCI Pak-India Trade Promotion Committee Aftab Ahmad Vohra also spoke on the occasion.
There should be no trade via third country as it would not only jack up the volume of two-way trade but would also cut transportation cost, he said, adding that the Pakistani sports goods, surgical goods, spices, cotton lawn, leather, chemicals and light engineering goods were in great demand in India, therefore, the Pakistani businessmen should avail the opportunities available in these sectors.
He also urged the LCCI members to initiate joint ventures with their Indian counterparts and enumerated a number of sectors where the businessmen of the two countries could join hands. He said the private sector in the two countries should share their strengths for the sake of progress and prosperity in this region. He said that the visa regime should be more liberalised and there must not be city-specific visas. Citing the example of 10-year multiple visas being granted to businessmen by the USA, Canada and UK, he said the neighbouring countries should adopt the same approach to facilitate the business doing people.
While appreciating the efforts of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry for the promotion of trade and industry, he said the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry was one of the most active chambers in the world.
Speaking on the occasion, LCCI President Farooq Iftikhar said the best option to enhance bilateral trade would be to identify areas of common interest for economic cooperation. The LCCI president said that non-tariff barriers had been a key issue for the Pakistani businessmen while accessing the Indian market. There were genuine non-tariff barriers related to the complexity of regulatory procedures, non-transparent regulations, port restrictions, and problems related to recognition of standards and valuation of goods, he added.
Business people fear entering these markets as they were not sure if their goods would be welcomed. However, there was evidence that some businesses had made a bold entry with their country labels and had not met much resistance. Exhibitions and fairs were an effective way of dealing with these perceived barriers.