Indo-Pak illegal trade reduced by half towards Feb '06

New Delhi, Mar 19 (UNI) The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) has said that not only illegal trade between India and Pakistan has gone down by 50 per cent but the two-way trade between the two nations has also accelerated by 400 million dollars in February 2006.

The illegal trade which is officially estimated to the tune of 2 billion dollars by end of 2004-05 has come down to 1 billion dollars by February 2006, ASSOCHAM said in its study on 'India-Pakistan: Rerouting Informal Trade to Formal Channels'.

''Establishment of good relations between the two countries coupled with the implementation of SAFTA have brought about significant changes on the customs tariffs and other trade related barriers in the two countries which have led to the restoration of direct trade linkages between the two countries, reducing to significant extent the transaction costs,'' the chamber said.

The findings of the study reveal that ever since the sea route between Mumbai and Karachi was restored and railways and road linkages established between the two countries, the traffic of movement of goods through illegal channels from India to the UAE, Iran, Afghanistan and finally at Pakistan and vice-versa have substantially come down.

''In a majority of the cases now, there is direct trade linkages between India and Pakistan,'' ASSOCHAM said.

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