Chairman,Pak-India Business Council (PIBC) Noor M Kasuri while talking to APP here Wednesday appreciated the steps announced by the two governments and expressed hope that they would implement these as per schedule i.e December 2012.

He said that removal of NTF and negative list would provide level playing filed to exporters and importers of the two countries and it would open new vistas of business relations between the neighbouring states having several common features.

Quoting a senate standing committee briefing on last Monday which told that a meeting to import power from India would be held in Lahore soon, Kasuri said that it would be a very positive step as Pakistan is in dire need of power and India can help the country in the regard.

He said that import of petroleum products from India would also be a welcome step.

Chairman PIBC also expressed hope that US would honour its commitment to create the reconstruction opportunity zones (ROZs) to improve bilateral trade between India and Pakistan.

He said that the council's efforts to improve trade relations between the two countries have started yielding results and people on both sides of border could benefit from it.

"Pakistan should also exploit the potentials of business and trade with Latin America and central asian states etc for rapid development of the economy", he said.