• PAGE ONE
• INDEX
• HOME

CII outlines steps to forge ties with Pakistan

Our Bureau

NEW DELHI, July 6

AHEAD of the summit meeting between the President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, and the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has suggested the formal institutionalisation of a joint parliamentary co nference as a first step towards building confidence between the business communities on both sides of the border.

In a statement, the chamber said that such a step will be in keeping with the trends in bilateral relationship with other countries where business and economic linkages are being given precedence over political relations.

The joint parliamentary conference could have a secretariat with representatives from private sectors of both the countries in economic and commercial wing.

The chamber said that the need to forge sound bilateral ties with Pakistan is further emphasised in the emerging context of the world economy and new international economic order, where countries within regional groups are found to be taking steps toward s promoting trade with neighbours.

To achieve this objective, the chamber has suggested a four-step process which includes accelerating confidence-building measures, encouraging mutual sourcing, removing infrastructural and logistic inadequacies and improving connectivity. The chamber fee ls that following the four-step process will set the stage for forging better economic ties.

Another important measure to forge a relationship of trust and optimism would be to explore holding bilateral summits of Economic Ministers at regular intervals. The chamber also stressed that the Pakistan Government should encourage investment in Pakist an by Indian enterprises and work towards removing non-policy hurdles.

The chamber sees `buying from Pakistan' as an important aspect for taking forward the economic relationship between the two countries. Furthermore, in the interest of broad-basing industrialisation and widening the export basket, the chamber has suggeste d that the Pakistan Government should encourage Pakistani enterprises to import from India.

The chamber has also suggested that the two countries remove the existing restrictions on movement of railway wagons and adds that Indian Airlines should explore possibilities of enhancing connectivity between the two nations.

``In order to devise a structure for enhancing linkages and establishing an enabling environment, the two Governments should explore signing an agreement on protection of trade and investment, during the forthcoming visit of the Pakistan President,'' the chamber has said.