NEW DELHI, July 31: India and Pakistan began two days of talks on Tuesday to boost trade ties, including a cross-border truck service to ferry goods, a government statement said.

The talks are part of the peace process which started in January 2004 to resolve differences between the two countries, including the Kashmir dispute.

The Pakistani team for Tuesday’s talks is headed by Commerce Secretary Syed Asif Shah while the Indian side is led by Gopal K. Pillai, the statement said.

“The agenda for the talks includes trade in goods and services, tea exports from India, joint registration of basmati rice, including new items for trade such as cement,” it said.

The joint registration for basmati will ensure that third parties do not benefit from squabbles between the South Asian nations to register the long-grained aromatic grain as unique to their area of production in India and Pakistan, said Pravin Anand, an expert in patent and copyright laws.

Pakistan exports to India stood at $323 million while Indian exports to Pakistan crossed $1 billion in 2005-06.

The neighbours will also discuss the launch of a truck service through the Wagah-Attari border crossing in the Indian Punjab state.

At present, goods are brought up to the land crossing at Wagah and then carried by labourers across the border and loaded onto waiting trucks.

“The arrangement we have now is tedious and we are trying to change that,” said an Indian official who wished not to be identified.—AFP