Integrated Check Post to build trust, earn $8 billion for India, Pak

CHANDIGARH: The formal launch of the Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Attari on Friday, by Union minister P Chidambaram, will help increase the annual trade volume between India and Pakistan, raising it from 2.6 billion dollar at present to eight billion dollars in the next couple of years.
Equipped with new infrastructure, the ICP will be able to give clearance to 600 trucks every day, instead of the 150-odd cleared earlier.Trade between the two countries via Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore is already between five and seven billion dollars. Once the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status is granted to India and transit routes to Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia cleared, the trade volume could increase manifold and revenue generated would be a huge boost to the economies of the two neighbouring countries. There are conjectures that Pakistan’s economy may just survive on transit tax. However, the ICP will handle only 137 items opened up for trade across land route.
These issues appear to have figured in talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on April 8. Islamabad has committed to do away with the negative list of 1,209 items by this yearend and move to a regime that is in line with WTO rules.
“It’s a very welcome step towards reduction of barriers in bilateral trade,” states a study, The Potential of Indo-Pak Economic Engagement in Post-MFN Scenario, by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham). “The decision to move towards a negative list approach will go a long way in saving time and costs incurred by third country trade route,” said Assocham president Rajkumar Dhoot while releasing the study. Nearly 6,000 items can now be routed to Pakistan from India, as against less than 2,000 items done earlier.
Pakistan has conveyed its willingness to give India transit facilities for trade with Afghanistan and Iran — especially in energy and infrastructure projects. Petroleum products, iron and steel, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, automobiles, heavy industries, electricity trade, small and medium enterprises, IT and IT-enabled services, telecommunications, transportation and financial services can be immediately exported to Pakistan from India.