The Hindu : Pak. trade team hopes ties will improve

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 05, 2003

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National

Pak. trade team hopes ties will improve

By Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

The visiting Pakistani business delegation at the Wagah border in Amritsar on Friday. — Photo: R.V. Moorthy

WAGAH BORDER (AMRITSAR) JULY 4. A 58-member Pakistani delegation crossed over into India from the International Border here this morning in the hope that the small step it took across the border would go a long way in improving ties between the two nations and strengthen bilateral trade which stood at a mere $ 204.10 millions in 2001-03.

Leading the delegation, which comprised 38 businessmen, Senator Ilyas Ahmed Bilour said they had come to promote love, affection and harmony and discovered an opportunity to do so in the friendly atmosphere created by the initiatives taken by the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and his Pakistani counterpart, Mir Zafarullah Jamali.

"I feel the two Governments are working to normalise relations and so this is the time for businessmen on both sides of the border to seize the initiative and work for increasing bilateral trade which has the potential of growing manifold within a short time-frame," said Mr. Bilour, who also owns Bilour Industries in Peshawar.

In India, he said, these delegates would be joined by more from Pakistan. Together, nearly 150 delegates would then take part in the two-day Third Meeting of the India-Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IPCCI) beginning in New Delhi on July 7.

At the end of the conference, "the biggest-ever business delegation to India from Pakistan" would submit its recommendations to the Pakistan Government. The conference would also witness the conduct of elections to the IPCCI besides deliberations on strengthening its role and improving cross-border trade. "We want relations to improve. Over the past 50 years, people on both sides have suffered enough due to the politicians," he said, adding "neighbours cannot be separated". Sharing his views, the life-member of the Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), Anwar Ahmed Tata, said restoration of road, rail and air links was very necessary for improving trade. "Our hearts were always united. The animosity should be buried. When Europe can come together as one and have a common currency, why can't we improve our trade," he wondered, and quipped that "we are being crushed by prejudice".

The delegation, which was given a warm welcome by the FICCI's Deputy Secretary-General, Krishan Kalra, also hoped that various pending issues such as grant of MFN (Most Favoured Nation) status to India by Pakistan would be resolved soon and trade in goods such as pharmaceuticals, textiles and leather would pick up.

Noting that women also had an important role to play in improving bilateral relations, a member of the FPCCI ladies group and wife of Mr. Bilour, Fitrat Bilour, asserted that the atmosphere was more conducive now than ever before to do business. "I am here on my fifth visit and find the mood now is probably the best it has been in the past six or seven years."

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