Indian High Commissioner (ambassador) to Pakistan Satyabrata Pal has favoured enhanced trade between New Delhi and Islamabad and said that it could play an effective role as a peace promoting instrument between the two countries. The trade with Pakistan is not merely for reaping monetary benefits but it has also some other considerations especially its role as a peace promoting instrument, he said while addressing the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Pal said that the issue of Non Tariff Barriers was important as Indian economy was closed and now after opening it up. India had to provide some protection to its industry, he added and asserted that no such barrier was "Pakistan specific. "We have not devised any strategy to check the import of Pakistani goods and I am ready to do whatever we can do within our limited authority to resolve such issues," he assured the business community. The ambassador also assured his cooperation to the business community regarding issuance of visas and said that the recommendation of the Chamber would be given due weightage in this regard. He said that his country has increased its trade with the rest of the world and it should have been true for Pakistan also but certain reservations at both sides were creating hurdles. Pal said that India's trade with ASEAN (Association for Southeast Asian Nations) rose to 20 million dollars last year and is expected to rise to 40 million dollars within next five years. He said the two countries have to face the media and political parties (opposition) therefore they have to take care of reservations they have about each other. Pal said both the countries can extend cooperation and join hands in cotton, rice, bio-tech, IT and research and development sectors. He said that Pakistan has some unique cotton and similarly India has some other quality cotton and both have their own specialties in textile. They can cooperate and work together in these sectors for the mutual benefit, he added.
