Pakistan-India trade can go up to $10bn: official

[LahoreEstate]

Sunday, September 06, 2009
NEW DELHI: Trade between India and Pakistan can go up to $10 billion a year in 5-6 years if both the countries resume their dialogue and overall political environment improves, visiting Pakistan’s Commerce Secretary Suleman Ghani said.

“If everything goes right then once we resume dialogue, it should not take more than 5-6 years for trade to reach $10 billion from the current $2 billion,” Ghani told newsmen on sidelines of PHD Chamber conference on Saturday.

“It is about time we set up strong targets for trade between India and Pakistan. We have to be realistic and understand the ground realities. Commerce and trade can improve once the overall environment improves. We want to take a quantum leap forward. Once volumes go up things will fall in place,” Ghani observed.

He said Pakistan was committed to promoting better relationships between trade bodies and is confident that problems will begin to resolve quickly once composite dialogue between the two countries is back on track. Ghani also met India’s Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullaray on Saturday and discussed trade and commerce issues.

http://thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=196848