May 8, 2002	Wednesday	Safar 24, 1423

GILGIT, May 7: Trade and tourism activities between the Northern Areas of Pakistan and Chinese province of Xingiang are yet to resume given the delay in signing the fresh agreement to endorse the Protocol Agreement, first signed between the two states in 1963.

The official sources said that every year the authorities from both the sides were supposed to endorse, amend and update the provisions of the agreement in view of the prevailing business and political scenario across the border. They said the border was opened from May through December every year for tourists and traders after the agreement.

The Chinese authorities closed the border at Khunjerab (Pakistan) immediately after the Sept 11 events, which resulted in the suspension of border trade and a large number of Pakistani traders and their consignments were held stranded in China. Pakistani traders said that they had to pay demurrage on the stored goods because of the border closure and had managed to transport their goods only after months-long delay.

Traders said that this year they were not optimistic about a boom in the border trade because they had not been able to proceed to China in time, although they had acquired border passes and loans from various financial institutions to subsidize their business.

They said the Northern Areas chief secretary was the competent authority to sign the agreement but his non-availability in the office had been delaying the resumption of the trade.

Traders expressed their apprehensions that delay in signing of the agreement was creating uncertainty amongst the business community as they would not be able to arrange their scheduled business trips to China in the trading season.