KARACHI, Oct 5: Indian Foreign Minister Kunwar Natwar Singh has said that trade normalization at a time when both India and Pakistan are in the midst of growth spurt has opened up immense opportunities for the private sector on the either side. He called upon the private sector to pounce on this opportunity for a better and prosperous future of the two nations.

Speaking to members of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry here on Wednesday, Mr Singh called on businessmen to identify complementarities in the two economies and workout avenues of cooperation for the mutual benefit of the two nations. Identifying potential fields of collaboration he mentioned agriculture, chemical, textile, engineering, hydropower, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, engineering, etc.

He said Pakistan could export cotton yarn, textile fabrics, surgical, sports goods and water coolers to India. India was also looking at import of electricity from Pakistan if it had a surplus, he added. The minister said India could meet Pakistan’s annual demand of 100,000 vehicle tyres. “There is a lot of scope for cooperation in the services sector as well as in tourism, information technology, banking, aviation, etc,” he said.

Mr Singh said that Safta would come into force from January 1, 2006 and expressed the hope that South Asian nations would gain substantially from its enforcement. Comparing the performance of Saarc with Asean (a far eastern nations’ economic grouping), he regretted that over the last 20 years not a single project under Saarc could take off primarily for political reasons.

Responding to a question, the foreign minister said the Indian government was keen to promote trade and commerce. He said that India had unilaterally given an MFN status to Pakistan, lowered tariff barriers and was willing to look into non-tariff hurdles in the way of promotion of trade between the two neighbours.

He said India had formulated a negative list of items of trade with Pakistan. This implies that all items that are not on the list can be traded freely with Pakistan. Pakistan still has a positive list, which means that only items on the list are allowed for trade with India. Mr Singh called for negative list by Pakistan instead of a positive list of tradable items between the two countries.

Dispelling the impression of coldness of India towards Saarc, he said: “India is looking forward to the Saarc summit in Dhaka next month.” He hoped that with the normalization of relations between the two countries, the contribution of the regional organization would also improve.

Mr Singh said that transit trade of India to Afghanistan and Central Asian countries through Pakistan remained a dream. He called upon the FPCCI to take up the matter with its government.

The Indian foreign minister saw Karachi as a future hub and commercial centre not only for Pakistan but for the whole region. He said direct trade between India and Pakistan would get a boost with the opening of road transportation and ferry service between Mumbai and Karachi and removal of non-tariff barriers.

He said direct trade through Attari-Wagah, Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and Monabao-Khokrapar routes was likely to start soon. The Karachi-Mumbai ferry service, signing of shipping protocol and expansion of civil aviation service between the two countries would be other steps towards more trade and economic cooperation, he said.

Later responding to a question, Indian High Commissioner Shivsankar Menon said their embassy was making all-out efforts to facilitate business travellers. He assured that business visas would now be issued within 10 days, with no-police reporting status and with entry permission for as many cities as the applicant wish to visit. He mentioned that as against 50 visas in a month two years back, the embassy is processing 10,500 visas a month now.

Earlier, FPCCI President Chaudhry Mohammad Saeed welcomed the guests. He gave a number of suggestions to the minister to facilitate trade. He suggested that warehousing facilities for transit storage be made available at the Wagah Border for goods awaiting completion of customs formalities.