Pak business team awaits bus from Delhi

Riding on the likelihood of resumption of the bus service between India and Pakistan from July, the business delegation from Pakistan has po...

Riding on the likelihood of resumption of the bus service between India and Pakistan from July, the business delegation from Pakistan has postponed its visit to India to July 7-8 in order to enable larger participation from Pakistani industry in the meeting of India and Pakistan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (IPCCI).

Senior Ficci officials told The Indian Express that ‘‘postponement of the joint business meeting is a mutual decision because we feel that with the resumption of the bus service, more business delegates will be able to attend as travelling costs would be cheaper.’’ The third meeting of IPCCI was earlier scheduled for June 28-29. This joint body was formed in 1999 between Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (Ficci) and Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) to promote trade ties between both the countries.

Currently, there are no air links between the two neighbours. Ficci officials said, earlier nearly 35 business delegates were expected to come by flight via Dubai. But now around 70 business delegates have confirmed their participation, and most of them plan to travel by bus. The Pakistani business delegation will be headed by Ilyas Ahmed Bilour, who is the current president of IPCCI, and co-headed by Riaz Ahmed Tata, the current president of FPCCI. Nearly 150 small and large business delegates are expected to participate from the Indian side. During the two-day deliberations, both the sides are expected to discuss measures for trade policy normalisation between the two countries including most favoured nation (MFN) status to India and expansion of list of tradeable items.

Ficci officials informed that the issues related to infrastructure and logistics will also be discussed.