March 01, 2007	Thursday	Safar 11, 1428

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RAWALPINDI, Feb 28: The Indian government would share with Pakistan findings of a probe into the recent attack on the Samjhota Express during a meeting of the joint anti-terror mechanism to be held in Islamabad on March 6, Indian High Commissioner Satyabrota Pala said here on Wednesday.

"The list of passengers in the train cannot be provided to Pakistan at this stage as the Indian authorities are still trying to collect record about the travellers in unreserved coaches," Mr Pala told reporters after a meeting with a delegation of the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) at the Chamber's office.

He expressed the hope that the tragic incident would not affect the peace process between the two countries as both the governments were committed to making the bilateral composite dialogue successful.

India and Pakistan, he said, should jointly address the issues emerging from the globalisation process such as energy and shortage of water by setting aside their differences, adding that both the countries needed to cooperate on hydroelectric projects to meet these challenges. He said it was high time to expand the area of cooperation and end mutual mistrust.

Mr Pala said that last year about seven million Indians went abroad, but the number of Indians visiting Pakistan was just 10,000. He said the number of Indians visiting Pakistan could be increased through cooperation.

In reply to a question, the high commissioner said that the Indian commerce minister had been misquoted with regard to withdrawal of tariff concessions. He said the Indian government wanted to strengthen the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (Safta) in letter and spirit.

In reply to a question, Mr Pala said that Indian universities were open to Pakistani students and it was up students in this country to benefit from these universities.

Earlier, during a meeting with the RCCI delegation, Mr Pala said that there was a potential to enhance the trade volume between the two countries, adding that the Indian investors were keen on investing in Pakistan. He stressed the need for increasing cooperation between the two countries in information technology (IT), agriculture and tourism sectors.

The high commissioner said that Pakistan had many beautiful locations and the Bollywood film industry was keen to shoot films there. He said Pakistani builders and contractors could also take advantage of huge investment opportunities in India.