Political tension notwithstanding, Pakistan is keen to improve economic and trade relations with India.
In his opening statement ahead of a joint media briefing in Islamabad, foreign minister of Pakistan Shah Mehmood Qureshi, while referring to the issues discussed with his counterpart SM Krishna, said, ?There are opportunities to uplift the quality of ordinary citizens of South Asia through economic integration and people-to-people contacts will facilitate and create an enabling environment to sustain the dialogue. All these issues were discussed in a very open, frank and in a very candid manner.?
According to sources, Pakistan has been keen to engage with India to focus on trade and economy. ?That is why ahead of the just-concluded foreign ministers talks, Pakistan has sent in a request to have commerce secretaries meeting,? added sources.
Ficci officials told FE, ?Bilateral trade between Pakistan and India is not reflective of any remarkable progress given the potential between the two countries.?
Both countries are members of the South Asia Free Trade Area (Safta) established in January 2006. However, trade between the two countries is as low as $2 billion in 2008, up from a paltry $500 million in 2000. But still Pakistan accounts for less than 0.5% of India?s trade, and India accounts for a little over 1% of Pakistan?s trade.
At present, while bilateral trade between India and Pakistan is officially put at around $2 billion, a large amount of merchandise is routed through third countries, notably the Gulf nations, which is estimated at another $8 billion.
During foreign secretary-level talks, New Delhi had conveyed to Islamabad that among other issues they could consider is to expand the list of items that can be imported by Pakistan from India.
?There is a feeling that there should be a negative list of imports, rather than a positive list and most-favoured nation status also very much forms a part of expanding relations with us and confidence-building measures,? sources added.
Pakistan has adopted a strategy to open trade with India, particularly in sectors in which it is not competitive. While Pakistan allows all kinds of exports to India, it has maintained a positive list of 1,938 items officially importable from India. On the other hand, India does not impose equivalent formal restrictions on exports to or imports from Pakistan.
