Senior Vice President of South Asian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has said that India should start process of composite dialogue with Pakistan at the earliest. He was giving a news briefing to Indian journalists in new Dehli. He said India should play its role to resolve bilateral issues with the Pakistan which were creating hurdles in bilateral trade. The news conference was arranged by the Pakistani high commission in India.
Iftikhar Ali Malik, a great advocate of peace between India and Pakistan; said he believed that dialogue was the only way to strengthen peace in the region. “With the resumption of composite dialogue, Pakistan will grant Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India, which will increase trade volume between the two countries to 10 billion dollars in the next three years.”
He said India and Pakistan had a trade potential of 50 billion dollars. The Indo-Pak trade could jump to 10 times the current amount. The removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers could result in an expansion of trade between the two countries from its current 2.5 billion dollars to estimates ranging to 50 billion dollars.
“With the cross border trade, especially being brought in for a noticeable transformation, it shall contribute to overall tranquillity and peace in the area and shall well facilitate progress in the border areas,” Malik said.
Former president of the Federation of Chamaber of Commerce and Industry, Zubair Tufail was of the view that “being a part of the integrated approach towards better trade ties, such interaction plays the role of a catalyst.”
And these efforts have to be continuous, rigorous and regular”, He stressed.
Chairman of the indo Pak Chamber of Commerce and industry SM Muneer was of the view that Indian government has made visa policy very strict for the Pakistani business community, they are not issuing a multiple visa for five years, Pakistani business men are issued a visa for only three months which is the main impediment in the trade activities between two countries. He demanded that India should facilitate Pakistan so that trade and commerce could be promoted in the region. He asked India to start the composite dialogue dialogue should be started at its earliest.
He said that SAARC countries have a great trade potential, they are rich with all resources, but with the political will SAARC countries can increase their share in world economy from 7 to 70 percent in the coming years.
Terming the bilateral trade to be the most promising factor and the most potent instrument for having better bilateral relations between India and Pakistan; and facilitate progress in actualizing their strategic partnership for the future, SM Muneer said: “there is lot of trade potential with Pakistan. If trade takes a front seat, automatically, other issues shall get pushed to the back seat.”
“Booming bilateral trade may well be the strongest pillar of Indo-Pak rapprochement so much so that it shall not only overtake the pace of general confidence-building but also have a substantial impact on each other’s mutual perceptions,” he said.
He shared that there is lot of scope for trade in handicrafts, textiles, surgical item, sport goods, and renewable energy sector and many more between India and Pakistan.