FICCI Pak fair deferred till February

A top Ministry of External Affairs official said, 8216;8216;The event has been postponed due to miscommunication between the organising agencies. We are looking at the concerns raised.8217;8217;

However, a top FICCI official said the event was postponed from October to December since it fell close to the rozas. It was further postponed from December 2004 to February 2005 as the Pakistani chambers felt the severe winter would be unfit for the business event.

Talking to FE, Aziz Ahmad Khan, Pakistan High Commissioner to India said, 8216;8216;It is not as if certain items have not been given clearance. But it is the fault of the co-sponsors who did not give us proper details. And, now the Made In India event has been postponed to Feburary next year.8217;8217;

The event, an on-the-spot sale and display exhibition, was earlier to have been staged from October 1-10, 2004 in Lahore by FICCI in association with the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry FPCCI.

Over 300 stalls were planned to be set up for products in various categories. The event would have included a seminar on India-Pakistan economic relations, earlier scheduled for October 1, 2004.

The 8216;Made in India8217; exhibition in Pakistan was the first such event of its kind, meant to reciprocate the effort put in by Pakistani companies that set up shop here in March, 2004, the FICCI official said.

Some of the prominent companies which had confirmed participation for the Made in India event included Godrej Sara Lee, Archies, Badshah Masala, Avon Cycles, BEML, ELCINA, Electrolux Kelvinator, Gujarat Forging, Hero Cycles, Jaguar Fittings, Laxmi Machine, L038;T, Pidilite Industries, Ranbaxy, Rasna and Tata.