Senior Economic Officer at US Consulate Karachi Richard Bakewell said that United States of America (USA) was supporting Pakistan for trade normalisation with neighbouring countries.
He said this while speaking in the meeting held with Sindh Chamber of Agriculture on Thursday and it was attended by other chapters including Karachi, Sukkur and Sanghar through video conference.
Trade normalisation with India would benefit Pakistan’s economy, he said, adding that opening trade with India via Hyderabad-Khokhrapar-Munabao was part of that exercise, if it was materialised, it would be beneficial for both countries.
Bakewell said it would also scale up the trade between both the countries as the people would be major beneficiary from this trade.
Speaking at the occasion through video conference from Karachi, President Sindh Chamber of Agriculture, Dr Syed Nadeem Qamar, said they had always supported the trade with India if certain issues were resolved. Trade with India would be feasible, if the Khokhrapar-Bunbao train route was opened, he said, adding otherwise it would not be feasible for local farmers to compete with India as it was giving subsidy of 1 percent of GDP on agriculture sectors including subsidy on electricity, fertilizer and others inputs.
He also suggested that the process of visa for Pakistani farmers should be made easy and Pakistani farmers should be exempted from police reporting in India because its process was very annoying.
Sindh General Secretary Chamber of Agriculture Nabi Bux Sathio said that Pakistan was producing crops in huge quantity and it could be exported to generate huge revenue. Aside from this, they were producing mango, vegetables and fruits at southern part of Sindh province which was about 150 km away from Indian border, if the route was opened via Khokharapar, it would be more beneficial for them, he said.
Moreover, there was no language barrier between the Pakistani and Indian people, he added.
Vice President of Sindh Chamber of Agriculture of Upper Sindh, Ghulam Hassan Chachar said that Sukkur Region had huge potential of exporting dates across the world. He emphasized the need of cooperation at regional and international level to enhance the exports across the world and for earning more revenue for the country.
