KARACHI, Sept 26: Leaders of Saarc Chamber of Commerce and Industry have hailed the meeting between President Asif Zardari and Indian Premier Manmohan Singh in New York on the sidelines of UN General Assembly session.

Saarc chamber president Tariq Sayeed and vice president Iftikhar Ali Malik expressed their happiness on the decision on resumption of a composite dialogue between the two countries.

A press release said that Saarc chamber leaders were happy to note the agreement between the top leaders of two big South Asian countries to consider cross-border trade across line of control in Kashmir from Oct 21 next.

Similarly, the two Saarc leaders hailed the decision to open Wagah-Attari border and Khokhrapar-Munabao border for trade of all permissible items.

“Expansion of people-to-people to contacts, trade, commerce and economic cooperation would provide an effective platform to develop and strengthen bilateral relations and will positively contribute towards regional cooperation envisaged under Safta that promises much-awaited integration through integrated cooperation,’’ the Saarc leaders asserted.

The Saarc chamber also took note of the decision taken in Zardari-Manmohan meeting on opening of land route trade to India for access into Afghanistan.