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- March 24, 2024
- Kainat Shakeel
- 0
LONDON: The business community is concerned about the trading situation with India, and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has stated that the key parties will “seriously examine” the situation. When India removed occupied Kashmir’s special status by repealing Article 370 of its constitution in August 2019, Pakistan, then led by Prime Minister Imran Khan, downgraded diplomatic ties with New Delhi and ceased all bilateral trade.
The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) declared in March 2021 that the private sector will be permitted to import cotton and 0.5 million tonnes of white sugar from India across the Wagah border. But after harsh condemnation from the opposition, the decision was changed back a few days later. In December, the PML-N leader and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif emphasized the importance of bettering Pakistan’s ties with its neighbors, saying, “We have to fix our affairs with India and Afghanistan as well, [and] strengthen them further with Iran and China.”
Dar, a former finance minister, described India’s August 2019 move as an “extreme step” and “very painful” during a press conference on Saturday in London. He mentioned resolutions from the UN Security Council regarding the “ongoing dispute.” Nevertheless, the foreign minister pointed out that the business community frequently made requests and appeals over the trading situation with India. He recalled an earlier meeting with the business community before presenting the budget for the previous year, during which he heard an appeal from everyone stating that the fact that our continued imports come through Singapore or Dubai results in more freight, transshipment, transportation charges, etc.
We shall so give this a careful look. At the very least, to the degree of economic activity and commerce, all of us stakeholders will gather and see whether we can,” he stated. But I cannot offer you a “yes” or “no” response since it requires consultation, the former finance minister emphasized. “We will see what can be done about it.”