LAHORE: Commerce Minister Khuram Dastgir has said that he will meet his Indian counterpart in July to discuss bilateral trade between the two countries.
“I will be meeting Indian State Minister for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman in July,” a source quoted Dastgir as saying.
The meeting between Sitharaman and Dastgir will take place on the sidelines of SAFTA Ministerial Council in Bhutan on July 24.
It will be first high level trade interaction since the BJP came to power. It will be second meeting of Pakistan’s commerce minister with the Indian counterpart this year as he visited the neighbouring country in January during the tenure of the previous government.
Businessmen in both India and Pakistan have been showing their interest in open trade between the two countries. However, despite a number of rounds of high level talks between trade ministers and presidents of chambers of commerce of both the countries, Pakistani side has been reluctant to extend MNF status to India due to the fear of the fact that opening of trade between India and Pakistan may harm local industry.
Pakistani commerce minister, on the other hand, has said that 85 per cent of the trade between the two countries is already taking place.
He added that major obstacle between the trade opening between the countries are non-availability of the banking channels and hard visa regime.
The trade normalization between the two countries has not been taking any positive shape. Nonetheless it is hoped that the upcoming meeting between the two commerce ministers may bring positive results.
