Sharat Sabharwal
High Commissioner of India,

Islamabad

Sharat Sabharwal

I am happy to be associated with the 2nd Aman ki Asha ‘Indo-Pak Economic Conference’. I commend this joint initiative of the Jang Group, the Times of India Group, the Pakistan Business Council and the Confederation of Indian Industry. The conference is timely because it will enable our businessmen to discuss the modalities of the further expansion of trade and economic relations between our two countries, particularly in the light of the opportunities that have presented themselves as a result of interaction between our Commerce Ministries over the last one year or so.

With the rich agenda of this conference and the range of issues being covered, I am sure that the results of its deliberations will constitute a valuable input to further discussions in this area between the two governments. We appreciate the in-principle decision of the Government of Pakistan to accord MFN status to India. We hope that the negative list concerning imports from India will be phased out by the end of the year, as planned, to implement the above decision. Our Minister of Commerce, Industry and Textiles Mr. Anand Sharma has said that for every step of trade liberalisation taken by Pakistan, we will take two. We wish to carry this process forward in a manner as to create a win-win situation for both countries.

Meetings between our two Commerce Ministries and business communities over the last one year have confirmed yet again the vast potential of trade that exists between our two countries. We believe that India and Pakistan should target 12 billion dollars trade within the next five years.

I convey my best wishes to the conference for successful and fruitful deliberations.

Adi Godrej President,
Confederation of Indian Industry

Adi Godrej

CII is happy to partner with the 2nd Aman ki Asha Indo-Pak Economic Conference on trade and economic relations being organised by the Jang Group and the Times of India at Lahore on May 6-8, 2012. This conference is a follow-up to the 1st Aman ki Asha Indo-Pak Business Meet, held in New Delhi in May 2010, to discuss ways and means to enhance bilateral trade and economic ties. One of the achievements of the meeting in Delhi has been the formation of the focused sector committees on IT, health, textiles, education/skills and energy. The sector committees have met in the recent past and taken forward the agenda of cooperation.

The forthcoming conference in Lahore is expected to further this agenda and to bring together policy makers of both countries to work towards harnessing existing synergies for the benefit of the South Asian region.

The conference programme includes seven sessions spreading over two days in which experts from both sides will participate in detailed discussions on a policy framework for Indo-Pak trade, the prospects of opening up Indian markets for Pakistan, the existing potential of trade, policies for attracting bilateral investment, banking relations and other key issues.

The conference is expected to lay a roadmap for enhancing Indo-Pak economic cooperation in order to realise the trade potential of 10 billion dollar by 2015. The participants are also expected to deliberate on trade impediments between India and Pakistan and on the peace dividends that can be achieved through trade.

I am happy to lead an 80-member business delegation to Pakistan to participate in this conference.

The CII is a non-government, not-for-profit, industry-led and industry-managed organisation, seeking to play a proactive role in India’s development process.