SATURDAY NOVEMBER 26: Indo-Pak businesspersons: liberalised visa regime agreed

NEW DELHI: India's Home Ministry and Pakistan's Interior Ministry have arrived at a 'broad agreement' on a liberalised visa regime for Indian and Pakistani businessmen. For prominent businessmen, the two sides will grant multiple-entry visas valid for a year. This was announced here Friday by Arvind Mehta, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industry and confirmed by Shahid Malik, Pakistan High Commissioner to India.
Addressing a meeting organised by FICCI with the Pakistan business delegation, Mehta said, "The one-year multiple-entry visa would allow businesspersons to visit up to 10 cities with no requirement of a police report and no restriction on places of entry and exit." A note to this effect will be ready in a week for the consideration of the Union Cabinet, Mehta said.
He sought to assure the Pakistan delegation that the perception of some businesspersons that open trade would swamp Pakistan with Indian goods was misplaced. "Do not be fearful of the future because things are changing." The South Asian Free Trade Agreement (Safta) has several safeguards to give comfort to domestic industry as these safeguards would allow imports to be stopped should there be any disruption of the domestic industry, he said.
Mehta also sought to allay the apprehension that India had imposed non-tariff barriers on imports from Pakistan. Citing the case of cement imports, he said there is zero customs duty on cement import, a policy signal that India welcomes cement from that country. Pakistan High Commissioner Malik, however, remarked that there is genuine apprehension amongst Pakistani businesspersons about the existence of NTBs. "These barriers do exist and there is no point in brushing this aside," he said and expressed confidence that the commerce secretaries of the two countries would take steps to dismantle these barriers. On visas, Malik said the High Commission's mission statement was that business visas applied for at 11 AM should be given by 4 PM the same day. He hoped that this would be reciprocated by the Indian side.
Tariq Sayeed, leader of the Pakistan delegation and Vice President, CACCI & Immediate Past President Saarc Chamber of Commerce and Industry, noted that the potential of trade between the two countries was estimated at $12 billion in 2010, against actual trade of $ 2.3 billion. "This means that both countries could tap only 27 percent of the available potential. The share of bilateral trade in total trade of our two countries remains less than 1 percent of or total trade with the rest of the world. This is perhaps the lowest-ever trade proportion between any two countries of the world, a point that all of us should ponder over," he said.
Vikramjit Singh Sahney, Senior Vice President, Saarc Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the business community of both countries look forward to moving from a positive list approach to a negative list at the earliest; significant liberalisation of visa regimes; review of and minimising NTBs against imports from Pakistan; greater effort at people-to-people contacts; signing of an investment promotion and protection treaty; strengthening of trade infrastructure at land customs stations, creating awareness about each other's competencies and business capabilities through road shows and exhibitions; strengthening air, rail and road links; opening of scheduled bank branches in each other's country and revival of a new silk route.-PR