Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, Jan 27: Business representatives from Jammu, Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) held a three-day meeting that concluded today in Bangkok (Thailand) and signed an MoU to boost cross-border trade.
The three-day meeting of representatives of Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Jammu, Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and prominent business leaders, Line of Control (LoC) traders as well as women entrepreneurs was convened by Conciliation Resources in Bangkok from January 25 to 27, a spokesman of J&KCCI said.
He said important issues concerning each region were discussed by the representatives, the key focus was on the improvement of connectivity across the regions.
This was followed by a detailed discussion about the support required by the J&K-JCCI to become more strengthened in order to be able to work towards the facilitation of trade, he added.
J&K-JCCI extended support to the LoC traders and assured them that the Chamber will take their recommendations to respective Governments for enhancing this Confidence Building Measures (CBMs), he said, adding that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was also signed in this regard.
The new leadership of the J&K-JCCI assumed office for the new term of 2018, as per the prevailing traditions of this forum.
Javid Ahmad Tenga took the position of president, while Rakesh Gupta and Ghulam Murtaza assumed office as joint presidents.
The main ideas discussed to promote the LoC trade were inclusion of services in this context and advanced banking arrangements to facilitate a better and more effective trade process.
“All the business leaders agreed to take these ideas forward by talking to the Governments of India and Pakistan and building confidence in their respective communities as well as amongst the three Chambers of Commerce and Industries,” spokesman said.
The attendees, including women leaders from the three regions – Jammu, Kashmir and PoK, also proposed futuristic measures to boost trade and economic and cultural connectivity.
The ex-presidents and presidents of the chambers apprised the participants of the previous efforts made to promote the cross-LoC trade.
The efforts and leadership of the past presidents to get the Joint Chamber to this point were greatly admired by the participants and it was emphasised that their continued guidance and support for this institution would be highly valuable, the spokesman said.
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