KARACHI, Nov 10: FPCCI and Indian Chamber of Punjab, Hirayana and Delhi have called for removal of all barriers to trade and economic cooperation between the two countries.

In a meeting here at Federation House on Monday, representatives of the trade bodies underlined the need for more cooperation between the private sectors of Pakistan and India.

Indian mission was led by President PHD Chamber, Ravi Wig while Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry team was led by its President, Riaz Ahmed Tata.

It was agreed by both sides that excluding negative items the businessmen of the two countries should be allowed to trade freely in the items of their choice.

Stating that the current shift in the regional political scene was encouraging, Riaz Ahmed Tata said trade would be an effective tool that could help in defusing the hard-line positions of Pakistan and India.

The opening of trade between the two countries would lead to greater people-to-people contact, improvement in the quality and availability of products and services and increased interaction between the officials of the two countries at all levels.

The leader of the visiting delegation said that our strength lies in unity and if the businessmen of India and Pakistan got united, their governments would be obliged to give in. The businessmen are not less patriotic than any other section of society and they should take their future in their hands.

Ravi Wig said that understanding has been reached with the leaders of Lahore and Karachi Chambers of Commerce and Industry to hold meetings with PHD Chamber on a regular basis to discuss avenues of cooperation.

He suggested that both the countries should not only set up joint ventures in India and Pakistan but also in the third countries. He said that tourism offered great prospects for cooperation between the two countries.

The exporters of Basmati rice of the two countries should collaborate in its export to fetch better price.

Saifullah Paracha, former president, FPCCI, called for collaboration between India and Pakistan in information technology and suggested easy issuance of visas to businessmen of the two countries.

Raja Abdul Rehman, former President, FPCCI called for collaboration between India and Pakistan in the engineering sector, which offered ample opportunities for joint ventures.

Yusuf Shirazi, former president, Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry called for economic harmony between the two countries to resolve bilateral issues. He called for stoppage of smuggling and trading through third countries.

FPCCI Vice Presidents Arshad Alam and Haroon Rashid called for settlement of political issues and removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers to promote economic cooperation between the two countries.-APP