India and Pakistan Agreed to Double Bilateral Trade to Six Billion US Dollars

India and Pakistan have agreed to normalise their economic relations and jointly work to double bilateral trade to six billion US dollars by 2014. This was agreed during a meeting between Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and Pakistan Commerce Minister Makdhoom Mohammad Amin Fahmin in New Delhi. At present, their bilateral trade is 2.7 billion US dollars. Pakistan has also agreed to implement all the obligations under the South Asian Free Trade Area, SAFTA Agreement meeting a long pending demand from India.

A joint statement was issued after the meeting. The statement said that both Ministers will work together to enhance bilateral trade. It also said that fully normalised commercial link between both countries would strengthen the bilateral relationship and build the bridges of friendship, trust and understanding for the mutual benefit of their people and promotion of prosperity in South Asia.

The Ministers noted that in the past few months, India and Pakistan have constructively engaged towards a liberalized business visa regime. They expressed that they now expect this matter to be expeditiously concluded before November 2011. The new business visa regime would allow multiple entries and could be for a period up to one year.