Pakistan proposes stronger economic ties with India

New Delhi: Visiting Pakistani commerce secretary, Syed Asif Shah, has urged the Indian business community to help in increasing bilateral economic cooperation and said Developing political goodwill and trust were steps in the right direction to resolve all our outstanding issues.

Speaking at a business meeting organised by FICCI, Shah said, he was confident that improved bilateral trade would contribute toward reducing the "trust deficit between the two countries and would be instrumental in achieving greater economic integration."

He said businessmen from India and Pakistan can become agents of change in bilateral relations as improving relations was a composite effort and economic ties were an important part of it.

On the new visa regime being negotiated by India and Pakistan to replace the existing system, Pakistan''s High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik said that the visa issue was being discussed in great detail and some proposals had been made by Pakistan which once accepted by India would result in a "sea change in the visa regime," even though there might be no changes in the number of places an Indian visa holder could visit in Pakistan.

Malik said Pakistan provides six-month multiple entry visas to Indian businessmen.