Trade parleys between India and Pakistan, stalled since Indian soldiers were killed at the Line of Control in Kashmir early this year, will resume as soon as the air is cleared between the two Foreign Ministries, a senior official has said.
The Commerce Department is following developments related to the proposed meeting between Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid and his Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz on Friday on the sidelines of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation. The meeting could determine the fate of the stalled trade talks.
Concessions
“We are eager to see whether the Foreign Ministers actually meet in Kyrgyzstan on Friday and what takes place between them, as the future of our trade talks is tied to it,” a Commerce Department official told
Both the countries had made significant trade concessions for each other since the trade talks began two years ago, but the border skirmish derailed the process.
India is considering Pakistan’s offer for talks between the two Foreign Ministers, which is expected to prepare the ground for a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly later this month.
The India-Pakistan dialogue process, which resumed in 2011 after all talks were put on hold following the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, faced another setback early this year after some Indian soldiers were killed, allegedly by Pakistani soldiers at the Line of Control.
With Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh stating last month that India was “ready to pick up the threads” of its dialogue with Pakistan , there are indications that India is prepared to resume talks.
“We want to re-start the negotiations soon, as these may lose the momentum gained over the last couple of years. But we can’t do so till the Foreign Ministry gives us the go-ahead. The talks in Kyrgystan could determine how soon we can resume our trade dialogue,” the official said.
Premiers’ meeting
The Commerce Department is hopeful that once the Premiers of the two countries meet, normalcy would be restored and all talks could resume.
Trade experts from both sides say bilateral trade, currently at around $2 billion, has the potential of increasing several-fold once logistical and “psychological” barriers are addressed.
While Pakistan now imports over 6,800 items from India, up from about 2,000 items allowed earlier, it has yet to extend the Most Favoured Nation status to India, which would basically mean allowing imports of the remaining 1,200 items it continues to ban.