KARACHI, Jan 3: Speakers at a conference on “Synergizing India and Pakistan economies” on Tuesday underlined the need to resolve ‘core issues’ with opening of trade to normalize relations between the two countries.

India-Pakistan CEOs Business Forum President Amin Hashwani told the conference, jointly organized by the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST) and the Delhi School of Economics that Pakistan had been stressing resolution of core issues whereas India was burdened with misperceptions about Pakistani society and economy.

He said trade with India would result in trade deficit for Pakistan but it would get access to cheaper Indian chemicals and larger market.

He brushed aside fears of the dumping of Indian goods, saying Pakistan could invoke anti-dumping clauses of the World Trade Organization if it saw such a situation.

Dr Asad Sayeed of the Collective for Social Science Research emphasized the potential of Pakistan-India trade, stating that there could not be any economic rationale for lack of trade between the two neighbours.

Dr Kaiser Bengali, professor of Economics at the SZABIST, presented evidence to show that beginning with a near zero base, Pakistan had made significant progress in economic and social sectors between 1947 and to date, but said benefits of the growth had been unevenly distributed.

He said a similar process was underway in India, with economic growth bypassing bulk of rural population, blue-collar industrial workers and urban slum dwellers.

Growing inequality posed threat to internal as well as external peace, warned Mr Bengali.

He traced the historic process of late 1970s in Pakistan and 1990s in India to show how class conflict allowed religious and communal elements to capture political space and diffuse attempts to introduce egalitarian measures.

Economics Professor from India Dr Shreekant Gupta also spoke at the conference attended by a 26-member delegation of the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, India. —-PPI