India-Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IPCCI) President S M Munir has urged the governments of Pakistan and India to restore the old Sindh Rajasthan rail route for cargo service and also open up all trade routes that exist in 1965.
Emphasising the need for improving railway connectivity between India and Pakistan, he said the railway connectivity between the two countries for cargo movement was highly irregular and suffered from shortage of wagons and lake of coordination between the Pakistani and Indian railway authorities.
He said the shipping links were very expansive and uneconomical between India and Pakistan, especially for high bulk and low value products. The bilateral shipping arrangement do not permit loading by ships by one country's cargo, meant for third countries at the seaport of the other country. This is another constraint for bilateral sea borne trade on the Karachi-Mumbai route.
Munir further noted that Pakistan imports from India were six percent of Indian total imports whereas India imports from Pakistan were merely 0.1 percent. Pakistan needs to front load with textile, cement, chemicals and agriculture exports to India to gain at least two percent market share of total imports into India. He emphasised the need for implementing the decisions of joint communiqué in true letter and sprite.
Munir further added that it was also the responsibility of private sector particularly the national chambers of both the countries to play their due role in brining business community of both the countries more close. He noted that an agreement between the Reserve Bank of India and the State Bank of Pakistan was signed in 2005 for opening of branches by two Indian commercial banks in Pakistan and two Pakistani banks in India which had not been implemented yet. Without the provision of banking services, opening of letters of credit, and cross border transactions of funds, trade could not be taken place.