Islamabad, May 7 (Xinhua-ANI): Top Pakistani and Indian business tycoons opened a two-day conference on Monday in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore to foster deeper business ties as relationship between the two nuclear armed south Asian countries has seen substantial improvement in recent months.
A thirty-member delegation comprising Indian business leaders is attending the India-Pakistan Joint Business Council and will explore ways to promote trade relations, organizers said Monday.
The conference is a joint initiative of the Pakistan's leading Jang Group of publications and the Times of India newspaper.
The Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani told the opening session that improved relations with India "are important for us as it offers a billion-plus market to the Pakistani exporters."
"We face many challenges and threats from forces inimical to peace. We are passing through turbulent times in our history in which non-state actors are determined to harm the peace process. Such forces are present on both sides of the border and we have to remain vigilant that they are not able to derail our hard earned gains," Gilani said.
Trade relations between the two countries witnessed a boost last year when Pakistan decided to grant the long-awaited Most Favored Nation (MFN) status to India
As a follow-up, earlier this year, Pakistan switched from a positive list regime to a negative list regime for trade. Pakistan officials insist India must remove "non-tariff barriers" that will pave the way to finalize the MFN status.
Following the decision to normalize trade relations, the two sides agreed to boost the volume of trade from the current level of about two billion U.S. dollars a year to six billion U.S. dollars by 2014.
"It was in April 2011 when the two countries announced their intention to normalize bilateral trade relations. And by April 2012, we have made huge strides in this direction," Gilani said.
The Prime Minister said Pakistan decided to scrap the positive list regime for imports from India and replace it with a negative list and the Wagah-Attari Trade Gate, which opened recently.
While calling for trade boost, the Pakistani Prime Minister warned that the two sides must remain vigilant to thwart elements that could endanger the peace process which resumed last year.
"I must caution that recent successes do not mean that we should become complacent. We face many challenges and threats from forces inimical to peace," he said.
Gilani said poverty, disease and ignorance should not be the " fate of the peoples of the two countries anymore." The region where more than one-fifth of the world population resides is fast becoming a key driver of the global economy, he said. (Xinhua-ANI)
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