LAHORE: The Saarc Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) President Vikramjit Singh Sahnay on Wednesday called for an immediate revival of the one year Saarc visa exemption sticker to promote trade in the region.

He made the demand during a telephonic conversation from New Dehli with Saarc Chamber of Commerce & Industry (CCI) Pakistan chapter Vice President Iftikhar Ali Malik.

Sahnay said that all Saarc CCI vice presidents including Mohammad Younas (Afghanistan), Md. Jashimuddin (Bangladesh), Thinly Parmar (India), Mohammad Rasheed (Maldives), Predeep Kumar Shretha (Nepal) and Kosala Wikramanayake (Sri Lanka) and president elect SCCI Ismail Asif have been directed to exercise their sphere of influence on their respective governments for the restoration of one year Saarc visa exemption sticker by replacing the current three months.

He said that the SCCI had already sent an official request to Saarc (South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation) secretariat for presentation by him before the council of ministers on Feb 20 in Male, Maldives.

It had also been requested to increase visa stickers from 200 to 500 with one year validity for businessmen of each member of the Saarc states, he added.

Sahnay said that multiple entries on one-year visa with exemption from police report and increase in the number of cities for visa holders would ensure smooth and frequent exchange of trade delegations of private sectors.

The SCCI chief said that Pakistan and India, with the support of their private sector, had taken historic steps to normalise bilateral trade relations.

“South Asia is the fastest growing region in the world but also one of the least integrated, while the region’s trade with rest of the world was growing rapidly, intra-regional trade was merely 5 per cent of its total trade,” he said.

Sahnay said that despite being natural trade and investment partners, the volume of trade between Pak and India, the two largest economies of the region, was extremely low.

He cited that total trade between Brazil and Argentina amount to $33 billion in 2010, almost 15 times more than the current Pak-India trade of little over $2bn. He said that it was worth noting that Argentina and Brazil too have had similar turbulent past of war and fierce rivalry.

He said that bilateral trade between Pakistan and India a couple of years ago stood at an estimated $1.83bn. India accounts for nearly 1.2pc of Pakistan’s global exports, while Pakistan accounts for less than 0.9pc of India’s global exports.

Iftikhar Ali Malik said that private sectors of either country had to play a key role in the prevailing scenario for viable and sustainable Pak-India trade relations.—APP