Talks on cross-LoC trade next week

Islamabad, Sep 16 (UNI) Pakistan-India Joint Working Group on cross-LoC CBMs will be meeting in New Delhi next week to kickstart cross-LoC trade in October.

The group will meet on Monday to try to increase the frequency of bus services on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and Poonch-Rawalkot routes, the Dawn reported yesterday.

In July, the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan had exchanged lists of commodities with zero tariff regime and to begin implementation, each side had agreed to indicate the items they were willing to receive.

The officials will also discuss introduction of three entry points for cross-LoC travel from the next month. The measures were agreed at the talks between the foreign secretaries Shiv Shankar Menon and Salman Bashir held here.

The two sides had also agreed to facilitate crossing of citizens on Uri-Hajipir border and to enhance the number of persons allowed to cross to 60.

They had also decided to designate the Rawalkot Deputy Commissioner and Jammu Regional Passport Officer as authorities responsible for issuing travel documents for passengers travelling on the Rawalkot-Poonch bus.

UNI XC PD HT1110