ISLAMABAD, March 29: Pakistan and India on Wednesday declared that satisfactory progress had been made on initiatives taken to promote bilateral trade. The announcement came at the conclusion of the third round of talks on economic and commercial cooperation held between commerce secretaries of the two countries within the framework of composite dialogue.

The two sides expressed satisfaction over progress made on steps agreed upon during the second round of talks held in New Delhi last year.

A joint statement issued after the meeting said that a new shipping agreement would be signed in the ‘near future’ in New Delhi and talks on air services agreement would be concluded expeditiously.

Pakistan will consider enlarging the list of importable items from India in consultation with stakeholders and after fulfilling legal and procedural requirements.

Both sides agreed that in line with an announcement in November 2004 about opening branches of scheduled banks, central banks of the two countries would process applications by banks expeditiously.

To facilitate import of tea from India, both sides would encourage visits by delegations.

It was observed that the new shipping agreement would facilitate import of tea from India.

In order to identify problems of transportation of goods by train, relevant ministries of the two countries held a meeting on the sidelines of the trade talks. It was decided that the dialogue would continue.

Both the countries would constitute a working group to discuss issues relating to joint registration of Basmati rice as a geographical indication.

It was agreed that India would make proposals on trade in IT-enabled medical services and export insurance cooperation for consideration by Pakistan.

It was noted with satisfaction that the laying of optical fibre on the Indian side would be completed in the near future.

Both sides noted that the initiative on liberalisation of visa regime would be discussed in the relevant segment of composite dialogue.

Pakistan noted the Indian proposal to convene a meeting of experts on the Attari-Wagah border to work out proposals for facilitating trade, including export of transit cargo of Afghanistan. A memorandum of understanding on cooperation in capital markets was conveyed by the Securities Exchange Commission of Pakistan to their counterpart in India. It was agreed that India would communicate its response soon.

Both sides welcomed the ratification of the Safta agreement by all Saarc member countries and expressed the confidence that it would enhance regional trade.