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| Muzaffarabad traders in Jammu today | | New beginning: Jammu, Kashmir, PaK joint chamber idea floated | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Oct 11: Butting behind the baggage of history, the trade and business community in the City of Temples is all set to roll out the carpet and welcome with open arms a delegation of their counterparts from Muzaffarabad in Pakistan administered Kashmir which is arriving here tomorrow.
Separate meetings, conferences, presentations and business expos have scheduled for the four day long program of the 19-member delegation of Muzaffarabad Chambers of Commerce and Industry headed by their president Zulfikar Abbassi. The delegation, which reached Srinagar on Thursday, will be received at the airport here tomorrow by the representatives of Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries and the Federation of Industries.
In Srinagar, the Muzaffarabad trade delegation today had a meeting with the Governor NN Vohra who welcomed the idea of floating an umbrella organization of the Chambers of Commerce and Industries, PoK, Kashmir and Jammu, and expressed the hope this will pave the way for better understanding and cooperation between trading fraternity of the two parts of Jammu and Kashmir.
The suggestion for floating an umbrella organisation came from Mr Zulfikar Abbasi, leader of the Muzaffarabad delegation, during an interaction with the Governor here this evening.
“We are eagerly awaiting arrival of trade delegation from PoK and are ready to accord them warm reception”, said President of Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries Ram Sahai. He said traders’ community in Jammu is organizing a trade exhibition to showcase variety of trade items for the PaK delegation to make up their mind before finalizing the list. Sahai said there are certain issues which need to be discussed and during the three day stay of PaK delegation they would make an effort to resolve all those issues before starting a new chapter.
The cross-LoC trade is scheduled to start on Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and Poonch-Rawlakote routes from October 21. The decks for the cross-LoC trade were cleared by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari during their meet in New York on September 22. Both the leaders had agreed on arrangements to open a border route for bilateral trade.
Earlier in the day, interacting with the participants, the Divisional Commissioner took stock of the preparations made at the venues scheduled to be visited by the delegation. The POK traders are expected to visit Arts Emporium, Suchetgarh-Sialkot Border, Rice Mills, Continental Transformers Unit, Mubarak Mandi Complex, Amar Mahal, Kala Kendar, Bagh-e-Bahu and prominent bazaars besides presentation and exhibitions on industrial scenario in Jammu province has also been organized during their visit. Finalizing the arrangements, Mr Pandey emphasized on maintaining close liaison among coordinating agencies, departments so as to ensure smooth conduct of the tour programme of the POK delegation.
At the Srinagar meeting, the Governor expressed optimism about things falling in place for better and feasible trade links once a conducive atmosphere is generated. "As of now, our emphasis should be on giving a kick start to cross-LoC trade without getting excessively overawed by the procedural aspects", he said, adding that further refinements in the system will keep taking place as the trade progresses. He stressed the need for developing a spirit for emerging in mutually profitable trade, saying that this is crucially important for generating an atmosphere of trust, cooperation and goodwill.
Vohra also appreciated the suggestion of the Muzaffarabad delegation that access to all channels of communication, including telephonic links,, should get the priority attention of the Governments of India and Pakistan. In the interim, he said, the possibilities of starting a courier service must be explored and ther communication networks, like Internet etc, should be adequately made use of.
Responding to a query by the PoK Chamber, the Governor passed instructions that the Jammu and Kashmir Horticulture Marketing and Planning Department should take the responsibilities of making available the required data on Kashmir fruit to the visiting Chambers. He also endorsed with the suggestion that there would need to be frequent interactions between the Chambers and said that practical procedured in this regard may be evolved.
The Governor gave an overview of the arrangements made at Salamabad in Uri and Chakan-da-Bagh in Poonch for launcing the cross-LoC trade. He said that he had personally visited the two places and inspected the ongoing work on the Trade Facilitation Centres. He said that the basic infrastructure for starting the trade through these two routes later this month was ready and further expansion and infrastructural development was in the pipeline. He said that the road from Salamabad to Kaman Post has been double lanned and macadimisation is in progress. |
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