Trade minister Sharma walks across Wagah in historic Pak visit

India and Pakistan are seeking ways to double their bilateral trade volume in three years, India's commerce minister Anand Sharma said as he walked across the Wagah border on a historic visit to Pakistan today.

Sharma has arrived in Islamabad leading a 120-member delegation, becoming the first Indian commerce minister to visit the country in three decades.

He was received at the border by his Pakistani counterpart Makhdoom Amin Fahim, who escorted him across.

Sharma told the media that trade between the two countries needs to increase and both sides should create the environment for this.

A new gate would be opened at the Wagah border to facilitate trade, he added.

Sharma's four-day Pakistan visit comes at an awkward time, with its Supreme Court having indicted Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani this morning (whom Sharma is scheduled to meet) for inaction on graft charges against President Asif Ali Zardari, and Pakistan's politics once again on the boil (See: Pak SC indicts Gilani; May face jail term).