By Jawwad Rizvi
LAHORE: Pakistan and India formally opened the Land Freight Unit, a dedicated trade gate for the promotion of bilateral trade through Wagha-Atari border, on Friday.
The inauguration ceremony of the opening of the trade gate was held in Amritsar, India which was attended by Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Amin Fahim, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Pakistani Secretary Commerce Zafar Mehmood, Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and other concerned officials of both sides.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbhaz Sharif especially crossed the Wagha border to attend the trade gate opening ceremony. Briefing the media, after returning to Lahore from a four hour trip across the border, he said the Indian authorities had been asked to implement the positive list of sea route trading on land route also for the promotion of the bilateral trade between the two countries.
“If the positive list of the sea route trading would be implemented on land route too then it will bring prosperity among the people of the two countries in no time”, he said.
He further said that he had stressed for the need to resolve long-standing issues between the two nations.
“I made it clear that the Kashmir and water aggression of India are two major issues between the two countries which need to be resolved for long-term peaceful relations”, he said, adding that without resolving them, a peaceful atmosphere would not be long lasting.
He said that it depended on the two nations now, whether they developed a love or hate relationship. “If they live like good neighbors, it would benefit both the countries, but without resolving historical issues it is not possible”, Sharif added.
He said that while many lives had been lost during the wars between India and Pakistan, besides rise in poverty and economic loss, it was now “time to fight in the fields of technology, innovations, science and economic fronts which would benefit the people of the two countries,” he said.
There is also a need to promote bilateral visits of students, intellectuals, historians and businessmen, he added.
