Trade officials of India and Pakistan on Wednesday began two-day talks to discuss improvement of economic and commercial cooperation under the Composite Dialogue process.
The Indian delegation at the trade talks in Islamabad was led by commerce secretary Deepak Chatterjee, while his Pakistan counterpart Tasnim Noorani headed the Pakistani side.
"All issues presently hampering the Indo-Pak trade ties will come under discussion," Chatterjee said ahead of the talks on Economic and Commercial Cooperation.
The parleys were expected to focus on whether the two countries could normalise trade ties even while grappling to resolve differences over issues like Kashmir.
The talks were expected to focus on issues such as Pakistan reciprocating India's gesture of granting Most Favoured Nation status and Pakistan's demand to get more tariff concessions for its products in Indian markets.
According to the latest figures India-Pak trade amounted to around $380 million during the past 11 months, which was far below the normal average of around $500 million. India exported $300 million of goods to Pakistan, while Islamabad's exports stood around $81 million this year.
Currently the two countries trade through third countries like United Arab Emirates, which according to estimates amounted to around $2 billion. Indian officials predict a trade potential of about $4 billion, if the two countries traded directly.
