The first meeting of the Joint Study Group (JSG) on trade between India and Pakistan, led by the commerce secretaries of the two countries, would start from February 22. The Joint Study Group (JSG) came into existence as a result of bilateral meeting between Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan and his Indian counterpart in November last at Islamabad. A five-member delegation led by Commerce Secretary Tasneem Noorani left for New Delhi on Monday to participate in the two-day meeting.

The other members of the delegation are: CBR Member Zafar Majeed, Industries Additional Secretary Zaheer Ali Shah, Foreign Affairs Ministry Director-General Jalil Abbas Jilani, and Commerce Ministry Joint Secretary Shahid Bashir.

The team would study the trade regimes of both countries in order to see how issue of trade imbalance between India and Pakistan could be addressed. The objective of the group would be to reach a win-win position regarding trade between the two countries so that growth of exports from Pakistan to India might be made sustainable.

The group would also identify and examine the factors owing to which exports from Pakistan to India were lacking. A wide range of other trade and commercial issues would also be discussed between the two countries.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2005