Less than a week after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari said that the two sides are taking significant steps encouraging bilateral trade, Union home minister P. Chidambaram and commerce minister Anand Sharma, along with Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, will inaugurate the first Integrated checkpost (ICP) for trade at the Attari-Wagah border on Friday.
Some major announcements of increasing the trade substantially at the ICP are likely to be made during the inauguration at which the chief minister of Pakistan’s Punjab province, Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif and the commerce minister of Pakistan Makhdoom Amin Fahim are also expected to be present.
Both the countries have long been keen to increase the number of items being traded across the border.
The inauguration of the Integrated checkpost is being seen as a major facilitator of passenger and cargo traffic at the Wagah-Attari border. Government officials said that the inauguration of the first ICP comes under a “complete package” of recent initiatives taken alongwith Pakistan.
A liberalised visa pact with Pakistan which is also expected to help boost bilateral trade by making travel for businessmen easier is also on the cards when the home secretaries of both countries meet by May-end or June.
The new visa pact is likely to benefit passengers travelling on the Wagah/Attari border between the two countries.