Delhi (SANA)India has reached a broad agreement with Pakistan on liberalising visa regime for their business persons and a Cabinet note in this regard will be ready in 7-8 days, a senior Commerce Ministry official says.
“On our side, it has to go to the Cabinet through the Ministry of External Affairs,” Joint Secretary in the Commerce Ministry Arvind Mehta said at a FICCI event here.
Under the proposal, India and Pakistan should grant multiple entry visas to businessmen of the two sides.
He said the ‘police reporting’ would also be done away with under the proposal.
The note by MEA “will be ready in 7-8 days for consideration of the Cabinet,” Mehta said addressing the meeting attended by a business delegation from Pakistan.
A broad agreement on the issue has been reached between India’s Home Ministry and Interior Ministry of Pakistan, he said.
He said a proposal to allow prominent Pakistani businessmen a one-year multiple-entry visa which will allow them to visit up to 10 Indian cities is soon expected to be taken up by the Union Cabinet.
“The Government on both sides has been responsive on the (visa) matter. At the official level, a broad understanding has been reached. I spoke to my colleague in the Ministry of External Affairs about three days ago, and he has assured me that the (visa) proposal (is) ready for Cabinet in the next five-eight days,” the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Arvind Mehta, said.
The proposal could also do away with the current rule of Pakistan citizens arriving and leaving from the same Indian city. They will also be exempted from the currently mandatory police reporting. Mehta was speaking at a luncheon meeting organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India in honour of a visiting Pakistani business delegation.
Mehta also sought to allay concerns among Pakistan’s businessmen that normalisation of bilateral trade would result in swarming of Pakistani market with Indian goods.
“Do not be fearful of the future because things are changing,” he said, adding there are several safeguards under South Asian Free Trade Agreement for domestic industry.
Present on the occasion, Pakistan High Commissioner Shahid Malik said that non-tariff barriers (NTBs) exist in India on Pakistani goods.
“These barriers do exist and there is no point in brushing this aside,” Malik said.
Confirming that a broad agreement (on visas) had been reached between the two sides, the Pakistan High Commissioner, Mr Shahid Malik, said the concerns and views of the business community had been duly reflected in the new regime.
“You will see once it is announced and signed — it will be a quantum jump from the existing procedures. I cannot put a date to it but I am sure it will be very soon (and) entered into a formal agreement between the two sides,” the High Commissioner said.
In the presence of restricted trade, the bilateral engagement is limited to USD 2.65 billion.
