Pak makes Kashmir pop up at WEF meet

It���s back to square one. After a gap of almost two days, Islamabad finally raised its favourite topic Kashmir in an international forum. Demanding India to open up its economy further, Pakistani prime minister Shaukat Aziz on Friday said that resolving the Kashmir issue was key to improving economic ties between the two countries.

���India and Pakistan, because of the history of dispute over Jammu and Kashmir have not been able to leverage their economic ties,��� Mr Aziz said at the sidelines of a meeting in the World Economic Forum (WEF). He said the two countries would have a strongest business ties if they resolve the Kashmir issue. ���Trade is growing. But progress in Kashmir is the key,��� he said.

Islamabad also demanded preferential treatment in trade and commerce. Mr Aziza asked India to open up its market to imports from Pakistan and said the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status extended by New Delhi to Pakistan would be meaningless as long as trade barriers continue to exist. ���Pakistan has said non-tariff barriers must be removed,��� he said. ���Philosophically, let me say we are much more open than India - must more easier to get into the Indian market,��� he added. He claimed that Pakistan was also the ���freest economy��� in South Asia with no restrictions on foreign equity. ���Zero percent or 100%; it is for the investor to decide. We have no barriers,��� he said.