FICCI to host second India show in Lahore

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) will conduct its second edition of their ‘India Show’ in Lahore, Pakistan to promote bilateral economic relations with their neighbours.

The second edition is slated to be held from February 14-16 2014. “If Pakistan grants non-discriminatory access to India, India will provide a reciprocal market access to Pakistan at a 0-5 % duty rate, similar to what is being given to Bangladesh. Pakistan should recognize that by delaying non-discriminatory access to India, it was losing out to Bangladesh,” Arvind Mehta, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

He said that the road map for enhancing trade is in place and much progress has been made in the last two years. He said that the dialogue process needs to be uninterruptible and irreversible and under the SAFTA process both countries would bring down the duty level on 98% items to 0-5 % range.

FICCI hosted a roundtable on ‘India Pakistan Economic Relations: The Next Milestone’ in the Indian capital on Friday.

Speaking on the occasion, Vikramjit Singh Sahney, President, SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Senior Executive Committee Member, FICCI, said, “We need political will on both sides to take the trade relations to the next level. It would also be in the interest of business communities on both sides to make the best possible use of the growing economic opportunities.”

He said that there were areas where action needed the attention of both sides. India and Pakistan are eyeing bilateral trade exceeding $7-8 billion from the current $2billion.