20.8.08

India & Pakistan Trade Snapshot


Trade between India and Pakistan can reach $9 billion in the next few years despite political differences, industry lobby Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) said."If the two countries bury political differences, the country can evolve strong bilateral ties which can grow from $2 billion to $9 billion," said Assocham president Sajjan Jindal.
"Let us ignore what has been going on political front for the past couple of weeks between the two countries and concentrate on confidence building measures between the two countries," he added.The prospect for cooperation between India and Pakistan has accelerated in the fields of banking, freight, transport, tea and rice after the launch of the South-Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) in January 2006.Bilateral trade has grown from $235.74 million in 2001 to over $1 billion in 2006-07.It said exports from India to Pakistan grew at the rate of 60 percent and imports at 64 percent during 2002-07, though the balance of trade is still in favour of India.
Assocham has advocated promoting people-to-people contact, solving trade issues to check illegal trade through land borders, and establishing web portals so that traders from sides will be informed about policy environment in both the countries.
With the restoration of democracy in Pakistan, Delhi can expect cooperation from Islamabad in securing infrastructure-related projects such as railways, power and telecommunications, Assocham said.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Its a highly welcome post from your blog. Unfortunately people in India and Pakistan have been carried away by games and gimmicks played by all types of politicos in their respective countries.

I do give in there are stark differences between the two nations, but can’t we learn from the biggest lesson of history, how the two European nations, the two arch enemies throughout their history, buried their past, not obliviating to the least their language, culture and their history (neither are the Germans less nationalistic nor the French have ceased loving their nation any more, but they do have realized the fact of the history that wars never bring progress and economic well being of the common man. On the contrary wars eat up people, resources and at the end bring more hatred amongst people than before the war / s. We in the subcontinent still need to learn this stark fact.

We have so many beautiful things to share, a common history, common musical traditions, cricket and hockey and so many other things. As President Asif Ai Zardari said a few days before the Mumbai attacks, there is a Pakistani in every Indian and an Indian in every Pakistani. So why not have trade which will benefit both countries. CBMS between India and Pakistan will definitely contribute towards India emerging as a powerhouse of economy and Pakistan emerging as a progressive, forward looking economic tiger in its own context. The advantages of India-Pakistan friendship are immense. We can utilize these measures and gradually move towards solutions of outstanding disputes.

This subcontinent has seen enough of tensions, wars and hatred. Let this be now a region of peace and progress. Your post in this regard is an indicator in the right direction

Nayyar Hashmey
http://wondersofpakistan.blogspot.com/