India, Pakistan for enhancing trade relations

NEW YORK: Sharing the stage at Mastercard's global headquarters in New York, India and Pakistan's envoys to the United Nations lauded efforts being made by their nations to normalise trade relations.

India's Permanent Representative to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri termed the development a "game-changer" while his Pakistan counterpart, Abdullah Hussain Haroon said the two countries should not "burn the energies in hate".

As the governments of India and Pakistan take steps to improve economic relations, Puri and Haroon addressed a gathering at Mastercard's expansive headquarters about 30 miles from New York yesterday.

They spoke on the potential of such trade ties for the two countries and the South Asian region.

Mastercard Worldwide's India-born President and CEO Ajay Banga introduced the two ambassadors.

Puri said effectively implementing the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) clause would enable trade and commerce to take place openly and freely. If properly managed, it could really be a "game-changer", he added.

Puri said the current bilateral trade level of 2.6 billion dollars is a "drop in the ocean", adding that it "does not make any sense" that India's trade with Pakistan is at such a low level when that with its other neighbours Bangladesh and Sri Lanka is much more.

Pakistan is a "very important country, important neighbour", with which trade can be increased in areas like petroleum products, cotton seeds, electricity and IT sector, Puri said.