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India has agreed to ease norms for cement imports from Pakistan, and Pakistan has agreed to facilitate tea imports from India, via a rail link. Pakistan is the world's third largest consumer of tea and India is the world's largest producer.
The two sides meeting at the Fourth Meeting on Economic and Commercial Cooperation that ended on August 1, 2007, also agreed to set up a Joint Working Group to discuss issues relating to joint registration of basmati rice.
According to the joint statement that was released, India will constitute a taskforce comprising representatives from various ministries and departments to address the issues of non-tariff barriers and para-tariffs. The Indian side invited the Pakistani side to identify 20 products of export interest “so that India could inform Pakistan about the detailed import regime on these products with a view to facilitating their import to India”.
The Indian delegation also handed over a list of 484 tariff lines for inclusion in the positive list of items importable from India.
Among other issues, both countries agreed to finalise the opening of bank branches in either country. Both promised to hasten applications processing “for the two bank branches in either country within six months of the receipt of applications, or by December 31, 2007”.
Trade between the two countries has nearly doubled to US$ 1.67 billion in the financial year ending March, from about US$ 850 million a year earlier. Both sides agreed that bilateral trade could rise to US$ 10 billion by 2010.
August 2, 2007
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