Pakistan has asked the Indian government to address its concerns related to “market access, tariff and non-tariff barriers’.
Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit said Pakistan wanted a level-playing field for promoting and further strengthening trade ties with India. “There is need to address concerns relating to market access, tariff and non-tariff barriers,” he said.
“At the same time, innovative proposals and ideas may also be explored which can help create economic inter-dependence between the two countries. Mutual economic dependence will boost confidence amongst the business communities and make economic cooperation sustainable,” he added, while addressing the fourth meeting of the Pakistan-India Joint Business Forum (PIJBF).
India and Pakistan are looking to take fresh guard in relations when the foreign secretaries meet in Islamabad on August 25. Pakistan is likely to push for a full scale resumption of the dialogue process which has effectively remained stalled since January 2013 when an Indian soldier was beheaded at LoC.
Talking about the meeting, the high commissioner said Pakistan was looking forward to a meaningful and result-oriented dialogue process. He said PM Narendra Modi and his counterpart Nawaz Sharif had both agreed in their meeting here that the two countries needed to move from confrontation to cooperation.
After the IPJBF meeting, Pakistani industry expressed hope that Islamabad would soon grant the MFN status as the formalities on the matter had already been completed.