ISLAMABAD, Pakistan— India and Pakistan agreed to resume private trade Friday after a lapse of almost eight years, trade officials of the rival South Asian nations said after two days of high-level talks.
“Our efforts toward economic cooperation have entered a new phase,” said Makbul Haq, Pakistan’s delegation to the talks,
Indian Finance Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh described the decision to resume commercial trade as an “historic agreement” that could lead to improved ties between the longtime South Asian rivals.
The two nations also agreed to introduce direct telephone dialing before the end of the year and expand telex facilities, the ministers said during a joint press conference at the conclusion of the trade talks.
India and Pakistan normalized relations in 1972 after the two week war in December 1971 in which Pakistan surrendered East Pakistan, where Bangladesh.
The two nations resumed trade in 1975 after an interruption of 10 years, but private trade links were severed in July 1978 when Pakistan President Mohammed Zia al Huq ordered an embargo on trade with India,
Officials said Friday that public-sector trade between India and Pakistan estimated at $50 million this year is expected to double under the agreement reached during the talks,
The agreement comes as somewhat of a surprise,” said Renee Hancher, Department of Commerce country desk officer for Pakistan, “The Pakistanis are hesitant to resume trade because they are afraid their market will be flooded with cheaper Indian goods.”
Relations between India and Pakistan warmed slightly last year, and Zia met with Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in New Delhi in December.
Other high-level talks between India and Pakistan on defense and other bilateral issues have been scheduled for this month in Islamabad to prepare for a Gandhi visit there in the first half of this year.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 17, 1986
