Karzai Proposes India-Pakistan Trade Corridor
(Arab News) - NEW DELHI, 24 February 2005 Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai yesterday proposed a trade corridor for Indian exports to Afghanistan through Pakistan during his three-day official visit to India.
Karzai said he would take up the issue with the Pakistan government, the spokesperson of India's Ministry of External Affairs said. The bulk of trade between India and Afghanistan is currently via Iran.
During his meeting yesterday with Indian External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh, Karzai said he was also keen on getting more Indian teachers and doctors to come to his country.
He is expected to meet Indian Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel to discuss restarting a service to Kabul by state-owned Indian Airlines, officials said.
Karzai was accompanied by 11 Cabinet ministers, including the ministers of foreign affairs, commerce, energy, transport, information and culture, higher education, mines and industries and the national security advisor.
The Afghan president met his Indian counterpart A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Information Minister Jaipal Reddy and was scheduled to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today.
The Indian external affairs minister visited Kabul last week and assured Karzai of India?s continuing assistance to Afghanistan's rebuilding process, and offered training for its doctors and soldiers.
It was the first visit by an Indian foreign minister in 15 years.
Meanwhile, India and Pakistan agreed yesterday to cut red tape and ease barriers that hamper bilateral trade, in a move likely to strengthen a fragile peace process between the South Asian rivals.
The two countries formed two panels of experts to suggest ways to boost cooperation between their customs departments, facilitate trade and overcome non-tariff barriers, the countries said in a joint statement.
The two sides identified issues relating to bilateral trade and deliberated upon the future roadmap in order to enhance trade and economic cooperation, they said.
The agreement on India-Pakistan panels came at the end of talks between their commerce secretaries, a week after the neighbors agreed to launch a bus service across a disputed border in the Kashmir region.
Trade between the two countries has been hit by decades of hostility centered around their dispute over Kashmir. Direct trade is worth only about $300 million a year a fraction of their combined $200 billion trade with the world.
Trade through third countries is, however, estimated to be 10 times higher than direct trade. Analysts say there is immense potential for more direct trade as the countries make cautious progress towards peace.
If they showed the right flexibility, trade could grow five-fold in a couple of years, Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said on Tuesday when he launched the talks.
An improvement in the political atmosphere will move trade and commerce forward between two countries. Both should move in tandem,Pakistani Commerce Secretary Tanseem Noorani told a news conference.
There are several obstacles to trade between the two countries. Our objective is to remove all these barriers,? he said, adding that there was no timeframe for the panels to submit reports.
According to government statistics, India?s exports to Pakistan swelled by a record 328 percent in April-July to $167 million from $39 million in the same period a year ago.
At that pace, bilateral trade may surpass $500 million in the financial year ending March 31. India and Pakistan have gone to war three times and were on the brink of a fourth war in 2002.
India accuses Pakistan of supporting an Islamic revolt against its rule in Indian Kashmir in which more than 45,000 people have been killed since 1989. Pakistan denies the charge.
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