BETTER INDO-PAK TRADE TIES CAN PUSH OTHER ISSUES TO BACK SEAT: PHD CHAMBER

By 121 News

Chandigarh 25^th March:- Terming the bilateral trade to be the most promising factor and the most potent instrument for having better bilateral relations between India and Pakistan; and facilitate progress in actualizing their strategic partnership for the future, Vikram Sahgal, Chairman, Chandigarh Committee, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry said, that there is a lot of trade potential with Pakistan. If trade takes a front seat, automatically, other issues shall get pushed to the back seat.

Vikram Sahgal shared that PHD Chamber is organizing second edition of "The Pakistan Show", at Himachal Bhawan, Chandigarh from 26^th to 30^th March, 2015. He added that the first edition of the Show was held at Amritsar in association with Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Pakistan last year. Vikram Sahgal said that booming bilateral trade may well be the strongest pillar of Indo-Pak rapprochement so much so that it shall not only overtake the pace of general confidence-building but also have a substantial impact on each other's mutual perceptions.

Vikram Sahgal said, that according to latest figures of the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, Ministry of Commerce and Industry India, the volume of bilateral trade recorded a net increase of $410 million from April last year to March this year. Indian exports to Pakistan increased 19% while Pakistan's exports to India grew 28%. Bilateral trade has increased to $2.4 billion, which may soar to $6 billion in the next two years if both countries decide to treat each other equally. Currently, most of the trade between India and Pakistan takes place via Dubai and its volume is estimated at over $4 billion.

Reiterating PHD Chamber's firm resolve to boost bilateral trade ties, Dalip Sharma, Director, PHD Chamber said, that PHD Chamber has been undertaking many initiatives aimed at confidence-building in trading communities on the either side of the border since its maiden show in 2005, the exclusively held Indo-Pak Expo, 2005, wherein only few exhibitors from Pakistan participated. The recently held Punjab International Trade Expo, PITEX, 2014 in Amritsar, saw participation of Pakistani industrialists including delegations from 6 Pakistani Chambers of Commerce and Industry and traders besides 70 exhibitors.

Khurshid Barlas, Chairman, Regional Trade Committee and Executive Member, Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that being a part of the integrated approach towards better trade ties, such interactions play the role of a catalyst. He added that these efforts have to be continuous, rigorous and regular. The economic success of the two countries had, for a long time, remained a mutually exclusive exercise thus slowing down its pace of progress and its global impact remarked Barlas.