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Indo-Pak trade should increase: Lahore business chamber head
THE movement of goods by trucks at the Wagah border has opened the floodgates for increasing trade between India and Pakistan and this should pave the way for moving forward, said Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Shahid Hassan Sheikh. Speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s ITEX 2007 international trade expo, Mr Sheikh said there was need to sit together and try to take up the unresolved issues as well. Over three dozen Pakistani companies were exhibiting their wares in the exposition.The first such expo by the chamber was held in Amritsar in 2005 a large number of Pakistani companies had par-ticipated. He said there was demand of trade and industry on both sides for smoother movement of goods via trucks and this should facilitate increasing the two-way trade. He said the confidence building measures(CBM) being undertaken had led to better relations between the two countries and such a drive should continue to create the mutual trust. Pointing out that exports from Pakistan to India were worth $290 mil-lion and India's exports to Pakistan $800 million, he said there was a need to balance the trade.However, the indirect trade was considerably much higher. The PHD Chamber has been urging Pakistan to have a similar exposition in Pakistan and Mr Sheikh said efforts would be made to work out the details in consultation with the chamber members.However, he did not specify when such an expotition would be held in Pakistan.