India, Pakistan have $11b bilateral trade potential

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NEW DELHI, Dec 17 (PTI): India and Pakistan have a trade potential of 11.7 billion dollars, but the two neighbours need to take proactive measures to exploit untapped areas of economic cooperation, economic think tank ICRIER has said.
An Indian Council of Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) study based on surveys of business people has identified export potential of 2.2 billion dollars from Pakistan to India. On the other hand, India can ship goods worth 9.5 billion per annum to its neighbour.
"An examination of top 50 potential export items from Pakistan indicates that India is importing 45 of these items from the rest of the world, but not from Pakistan.
An examination of the top 50 items having export potential from India indicates that only 22 items are on the positive list," the study said.
Trade between India and Pakistan, though at low levels, has grown significantly in recent years. During 2000-01 to 2005-06, trade has increased by three and a half times from 251 million dollars to 869 million dollars per annum.