ISLAMABAD: Commerce ministers of Pakistan and India will meet in Bhutan next month to discuss revival of talks on trade liberalisation.
A senior official told Dawn that the ministers would meet on the sidelines of a meeting of the Safta Ministerial Council on July 24.
Know more: Trade talks with India resume
The commerce ministers of Saarc countries will attend the meeting to revive the stalled process of liberalisation of trade in goods and services among member countries.
This will be the first meeting of Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan with Indian State Minister for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman after the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in Delhi recently.
“I will meet the Indian state minister for commerce for resumption of bilateral trade talks,” Mr Khan told Dawn.
He said all options would be explored for complete liberalisation of trade with India.
In 2012, Pakistan expanded the list of items tradable with India from 1,918 items to 5,800. Only 1,209 items now remain on the negative list.
Mr Khan said the Saarc meeting would discuss the resumption of freer trade among the member countries.
It would also take up the issues of further trimming of the sensitive list, removing visa restrictions, allowing of banking channels and mobile connectivity, he added.
Pakistan has 936 items on the sensitive list and India 614.
Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2014
