Pak business team arrives in India

Wagah (Amritsar), Dec.3 (ANI): A delegation of over a hundred businessmen from Pakistan entered India on Wednesday through the Wagah check post in Punjab.

The delegation is participating in the five-day Punjab International Trade Expo (PITEX) in Amritsar that began Wednesday.

"The day leaders and people of both India and Pakistan will realise that friendship and peace are the secret elements behind our success, that day both the nations will become successful," said Sohail Lashari, former senior vice-president of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

"We should stop terming our relationship as arch rivals because we are not arch rivals. We have to change, a very paradigm shift in the mentality and the mindset of the people. If that doesn't come, then all these efforts are cosmetic. I have come here to propagate that," Lashari added.

"Trading fosters relationship between countries across the world. Traders share a great rapport and trade helps in the development of both the countries," said Siyed Atar Ali Quazmi, another delegate.

Trade between India and Pakistan is likely to witness a 60 percent decline in the financial year to March 2010 as a result of tensions after the Mumbai terror attacks, says a study by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Bilateral trade touched 1.436 billion dollars between July 2007 and April 2008, with exports from India alone amounting to 1.209 billion dollars.

Unofficial trade between India and Pakistan through third countries is estimated at 10 billion dollars.(ANI)