Pakistan, India to discuss CNG bus manufacturing at next Composite Dialogue

Islamabad, July 26 : The next India-Pakistan composite dialogue meeting is likely to consider Pakistan's offer to India to invest in Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) bus manufacturing.

Pakistan's Commerce Minister Ahmed Mukhtar while announcing the trade policy for 2008-09 last week said a decision had been taken that if Indian manufacturers of CNG buses make a firm commitment to manufacture such buses in Pakistan, the ministry might allow the import of 10 buses by road via Wagah border, from each potential investor as a test consignment.

According to the Daily Time, when asked why India-specific CNG buses were being imported, the Commerce Secretary Syed Asif Shah said, earlier some CNG buses had been imported from the European Union, but did not suit the country's roads.

Indian buses, being from the subcontinent, were more likely to suit the conditions in Pakistan, he added.

The Pakistani Government has already made the import of CNG buses duty-free by removing the 15 per cent duty in the budget for 2008-09.

ANI