Businessmen Agree
to Boost India, Pakistan Trade Ties
IANS
NEW
DELHI: Captains of industry from India and Pakistan on Sept 15
agreed to step up business ties in a wide spectrum of sectors
in order to give a major boost to the present insignificant bilateral
trade.
Businessmen
from the two countries decided to focus on five sectors, in the
initial phase, for mutual cooperation, said a statement issued
after the first meeting of the India-Pakistan CEO's Business Forum.
The
forum, a joint initiative of the Confederation of Indian Industry
(CII) and Young President's Organization (YPO), an international
network of business leaders with chapters in 75 countries, was
launched Sept 14.
"We
have decided to take up sugar, textiles, automobile, chemicals
and pharmaceutical industries immediately for mutual cooperation,"
said Amin Hashwani, co-chairman of the India-Pakistan CEO's Business
Forum.
"These
are the sectors where India and Pakistan have great complimentary
skills and resources," Hashwani, who is also the Managing
Director of Karachi-based Hashwani Group of Companies, told a
press conference here.
He
said there were exceptional technical skills in both countries
that complemented each other but they were not being leveraged
to their full potential, restricting the trade volume between
India and Pakistan.
Hashwani,
however, admitted there were many hurdles in the way of enhancing
trade ties between India and Pakistan. "The air, road and
rail links are very vital for conducting business. The absence
of these links does create hurdles, and these are ground realities.
But we are hopeful things will improve as we move forward,"
he said.
New
Delhi discontinued rail, road and air links with Islamabad after
a terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001 for which
India blamed Pakistan.
Relations
between the two countries have begun to improve after Indian Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee offered a "hand of friendship"
to Islamabad five months ago.
On
the prospects of increasing trade in the absence of a positive
political environment, Hashwani said: "Businesspeople in
both the countries can actually act as catalyst and compliment
the political dialogue process.
"But
progress at the government level will certainly give a big boost
to our endeavor. Whatever progress we make through this increased
business-to-business contact will be long-term and sustainable."
Agreed
Anand Mahindra, president of CII. "At the very best, we can
begin to think differently. We are not here to create hype. We
are basically at a base camp.
"But the fact that the thought leaders in the two countries
are coming together and discussing ways and means to boost trade
is a big achievement in itself. We need to continue with the dialogue
process."
Mahindra
said the members of India-Pakistan CEO's Business Forum had agreed
on setting up a "sustained and committed" process and
target substantial increase in trade in coming years.
The
forum will continue discussion on four key initiatives -- trade
and investment, manufacturing, services (health, education and
entertainment) and communication for building positive perceptions
- in its future meetings. The
next meeting of the forum will take place in Pakistan within six
months, said Mahindra.
Bilateral
trade between India and Pakistan is currently less than one percent
of their global trade. Pakistan maintains a "permissible
list" of 600 items like chemicals, minerals, metal products,
cardamom and tires that may be legally imported from India. Most
finished products and white goods are not part of this list.
India
and Pakistan have an official annual trade of around $200 million,
but exports through third countries total nearly $1 billion. Experts
say trade could rise to nearly $4 billion if they started trading
with each other directly. - Indo-Asian News Service
