NEW DELHI : Underlining that trade and terrorism were incompatible, India today said normalisation of trade relations with Pakistan was not possible unless there was peace on the border and terrorists activities were curbed. “… a necessary prerequisite for dynamic economic activity between our two countries, is an environment free from terror and violence. Trade and terrorism are incompatible. The challenge is to create an environment where we can focus on the trade and the economic agenda, and work towards growing connectivity and linkages between our two economies,” Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh said while delivering the valedictory address at the ICRIER Second Annual Conference here.
She said Pakistan should also confer ‘non-discriminatory market access’ status to Indian goods entering Pakistan, as India had done for Pakistan in 1996.
While admitting that for a variety of reasons, much of India-Pakistan trade relations have been hostage to political issues between the two countries, Ms Singh said that until such time as there was political will to implement the required measures, any progress was difficult. If South Asia as a region is to enhance its weight in the world
order and realise its combined potential for high economic growth,
it must muster the strategic will to act, especially at this critical juncture when the entire region is in transition, Ms Singh said.
Narrating the progress in trade between the two countries, Ms Singh said in 2012 India announced the removal of restrictions on investment from Pakistan. In March 2012, Pakistan announced its decision to move from a ‘positive list” to a ‘negative list” trading regime for all trading points except trade through the Attari-Wagah border post that remains limited to 137 items. In April 2012, the Integrated Check Post at Attari was inaugurated with great fanfare, with the understanding that Pakistan would similarly develop corresponding trade facilitating infrastructure on its side of the border. In their meeting in Islamabad in September 2012, the Commerce Secretaries defined with
great precision what the fully normalised India-Pakistan trading regime would look like. They also worked out a mutually agreed ‘road map’ to achieve this goal by the end of the year. “So in 2012 we were able to identify not just the final destination, but also the route to that destination!” she said. (AGENCIES)
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