India-Pakistan explore route to peace through trade

Treading cautiously towards increasing bilateral engagement,India and Pakistan on Wednesday agreed to further liberalise trade in an attempt to resume the peace process stalled since 2008.

After a meeting held between commerce minister Anand Sharma,and his Pakistani counterpart Makhdoom Mohammad Amin Fahim,a joint statement was issued,deliberating on the various issues discussed between the two countries. The meeting is being seen as a move towards resumption of formal peace talks which were put on hold following an attack by Pakistani militants that killed 166 people in Mumbai.

Meeting after a gap of 35 years,the commerce minister of the two countries agreed to work towards investments in each others country and a decision would be taken as early as possible on the issue.

Sharma said India would support a scheme proposed by the European Union to boost textile exports from areas of Pakistan ravaged by floods with duty waivers. Earlier,India had opposed the scheme and called for doubling bilateral trade.