Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said that free trade and investment with India would be possible only when there is some solid progress on the issue of Kashmir. "With India, we have not allowed free trade, free investment. Trade is taking place but it is under a restrictive list", the Prime Minister told BBC Television in an interview telecast on Tuesday.
"We believe that our relationship should grow in-tandem with the various issues on the table", the PM said, adding the trade and investment would be freed when there was progress in-line with progress and in-tandem with progress on Kashmir.
To a question, Shaukat Aziz said that people in Pakistan felt that tomorrow would be better than today.
The psyche of consumer spending and consumer confidence was when people felt that they could borrow today and pay back when they had better tomorrow, he said, adding that was universally true in any country of the world whether developed or developing.
He said with the high growth rate, the middle class was naturally growing in the country and it was a source of satisfaction and pleasure for the government.
The Prime Minister said there were some signs of inflation in the country vis-à-vis boost in economic activity to which the government was watching very carefully. "We have taken measures, we want to contain inflation. It is still in the single digit but we have to watch it very carefully", he said.
He said the rapid growing trends in oil prices had put pressure on the overall prices' structure throughout the world.
To another question, he said President General Pervez Musharraf was a source of great confidence for all Pakistanis because he had done so much.
The President and the government were making efforts to institutionalise the reforms, the Prime Minister said, adding, "we are very convinced that the institutionalisation process is moving ahead".
Asked which are the Asian countries with which Pakistan desires to forge trading alliances, the PM said Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Korea, Japan, China and Hong Kong were the countries who were looking on Pakistan. They were not just looking but were coming and exploring the opportunities, he added.
"Our job is to open the door of opportunity and it is up to the businessmen world across to realise it", the Prime Minister said.