Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim has said that both Indian and Pakistani governments were determined to give a boost to bilateral trade by strengthening the economic ties between the two countries. The exhibition titled "The India Show" was a part of the efforts being made in this regard, he said while speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the event here at Expo Centre on Saturday.
Indian High Commissioner Sharat Sabharwal and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Secretary General Dr Rajiv Kumar, LCCI President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh, Vice President SAARC Chamber of Commerce Iftikhar Ali Malik also spoke on the occasion. Makhdoom Amin Fahim said that during meeting with his Indian counterpart, it was resolved to enhance trade volume between the two countries. It was also decided to remove bottlenecks creating hurdles in issuance of visas and other subsequent issues faced by the business community of the two countries.
The Minister said the government was well aware of the reservations being expressed by certain sectors of the trade and industry. "We will not kill our industry and would support it while the Indian government is required to protect its own industry," he said. There should be balance of trade between the two sides, he added.
He urged Pakistani pharmaceutical manufacturers to bring down prices of their products to compete with the pharma companies of the Indian side. He said discussion to improve bilateral relations was going on for the last three years. He said the India Show had been commenced in Lahore while Pakistan would also go India to organise "Made in Pakistan Show" soon.
He admitted that existing infrastructure at Wahga border was insufficient to handle the volume of bilateral trade between the two countries. "Things are gradually improving on both sides and infrastructure development was also underway", he said. He said stakeholders of the both the sides were meeting to resolve the issues faced by the commerce and trade and no decision would be made in haste.
Indian High Commissioner Sharat Sabharwal, while speaking on the occasion, said that efforts were being made to increase the trade volume up to seven billion dollars while trade potential between the two countries was more than 15 billion dollars. "We are moving forward in a manner that both the countries should have win-win situation in trade and there should not be discrimination," he added.
He said Indian Commerce Minister was arriving Pakistan accompanied with a large number of businessmen from every sector. "The development in trade relations between Pakistan and India is because of our conviction, efforts of the business community and other stakeholders to harness trade potential. India wants to share its growth potential with other countries especially with its neighbours."
He said India wanted co-operation with Pakistan and bilateral trade would harness the economic prosperity of the both sides. He said visa regime was the main hindrance in the promotion of bilateral relations which was going to be eased. He said wide range of products were put on display by the Indian manufacturers in The India Show which would pave way for future trade and commercial ties of the two countries.
He said Pakistani and Indian counterparts also discussed to promote preferential trade and ease out the Safta regime. LCCI President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said India Show 2012 would lay a new milestone in the history of Pak-India relations. He said that Pakistani business community would also hold the same kind of the event in India soon to reciprocate the efforts of our counterparts.
He said that business community was in favour of promotion of trade especially with neighbouring countries. But, he said, it did not favour any agreement at the cost of industry. He said there were serious concerns and reservations from some of the industries including pharmaceutical, automobile, motorcycle, auto parts, sugar, textiles, cooking oil/ghee and etc. Any forward step without addressing the concerns and fears of private sector with regard to awarding MFN status to India would only result in causing more problems to our industry.
He said India granted us MFN status in 1996 but "we are still continuing with a positive list of importable items from India. In spite of that Pakistan could not take advantage mainly because of the non-tariff barriers and some other impediments on the part of Indian Government."
He said obviously there were complex domestic, political and security compulsions on both sides which were bearing heavily on the existing framework for bilateral trade. "Our business community strongly feels that despite having granted Pakistan MFN status, a great deal of non-tariff and para-tariff barriers are still in place while exporting to India."
He said that documented bilateral trade between India and Pakistan was around two billion dollars whereas the actual potential was around 10 billion dollars. He also suggested that the Board Members of major chambers of commerce of Pakistan might be granted business visas with multiple entries.
Speaking on the occasion, Saarc Vice President Iftikhar Ali Malik termed The India Show a new leaf in Pak-India ties, adding it would not only further strengthen the relations between the two sides but would also give a considerable boost to the bilateral trade. He said trade among the regional countries was the best answer to ongoing global financial meltdown. After the ceremony, the Federal Minister formally inaugurated the exhibition and took round of the hall. LCCI Senior Vice President Kashif Younis Meher, Vice President Saeeda Nazar, US Consul General in Lahore Nina Maria Fite, Former President Mian Mohammad Ashraf, LCCI former senior vice presidents Abdul Basit, Sohail Lashari former vice president Aftab Ahmad Vohra were among the prominent personalities who were present in the ceremony.