India To Remove Restrictions On Investments In Pakistan
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After decades of cross-border animosity, India’s Finance Ministry finally announced on Thursday that it would soon allow its companies and entrepreneurs to invest in neighbouring Pakistan, reported the Times of India, with the commerce secretaries of both nations also set for talks to improve trade by September.
After decades of cross-border animosity, India’s Finance Ministry finally announced on Thursday that it would soon allow its companies and entrepreneurs to invest in neighbouring Pakistan, reported the Times of India, with the commerce secretaries of both nations also set for talks to improve trade by September.
According to MoneyControl.com, the decision came after the government had recently lifted a ban on investment from Pakistan; while government sources indicated that airlines would soon be able to fly from India to Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad.
India’s commerce secretary, SR Rao, added that the Finance Ministry would collaborate with the Reserve Bank of India on the exact rules for making outbound investments in Pakistan; and said that he would meet with his Pakistani counterpart around the middle of next month to further discuss how to improve cross-border trade.
“We (the respective commerce secretaries) will try it to the next level,” told Rao to reporters.
[quote]“The Ministry of Finance will soon notify along with RBI the rules for making outbound investments in Pakistan through the semi-automatic route,” Rao added. “[But] there are [still] certain issues that need to be sorted out from our side and concerns that need to be addressed from the Pakistan side pertaining to Indian investments.”[/quote]Related: India Economic Statistics and Indicators
Related: Pakistan Economic Statistics and Indicators
Related: Troubled Waters: Has The India-Pakistan Water Conflict Reached A Boiling Point?
According to the Times of India, the Indian finance ministry will also, over the next few days, notify the government on a 30 percent reduction in the list of goods deemed as sensitive with Pakistan, which will then subsequently lead to a reduction of peak customs duty on 264 items to 5 percent over the next three years.
Rao claimed that the blueprint for the increased economic ties was already laid down by the respective commerce secretaries in April; and said that dialogue would continue to move trade normalisation forward.
Since April, Pakistan has also begun to move ahead with plans to grant India Most-Favoured Nation (MFN) status by the end of 2012. The two countries last discussed granting each other MFN status in 1996, but talks had stalled till now.
