commerce secretary talks begin between India and Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The two-day secretary level talks over trade between India and Pakistan began here on Thursday, DawnNews reported.

Commerce Secretary Muneer Qureshi was holding talks with his Indian counterpart S R Rao.

The high-level 19-member Indian delegation led by the Indian commerce secretary had arrived in Islamabad on Wednesday for two-day talks with Secretary Qureshi.

Pakistan and India were expected to formally sign three crucial agreements today to give a fillip to economic activity between the two countries as they move ahead with the trade liberalisation process adopted a few months ago.

“We have finalised these agreements related to customs cooperation, mutual recognition of required standards and the mechanism to address grievances for boosting the trade between the two countries”, Qureshi had told Dawn on Wednesday.

Both countries had already vetted the draft agreements from their respective cabinets for signing.

Pakistan had already flung open the doors for trade with India by raising the number of items that can be imported from that country from 1,946 to almost 5,600 since March 1, 2012.

To reciprocate this major shift in Pakistan’s policy towards India, the Indian government had last month lifted its ban on foreign investment from Pakistan to create goodwill for further deepening the liberalisation process between the two countries.

Source: DAWN News