Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 21: While welcoming the thaw in India-Pakistan relations, the traders from the Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and the Jammu and Kashmir State have impressed upon the Islamabad and New Delhi to widen the scope of confidence building measures (CBMs) and strengthen existing ties between the two neighbours.
Following the resumption of bilateral dialogue between India and Pakistan, 23 members of the business community from Pak occupied Kashmir and this part of the Jammu and Kashmir met in Dubai from December 16 to 19 and deliberated upon future prospects of intra-Kashmir Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) and cross LoC trade issues.
In a joint statement here the trade community group on both the sides welcomed the steps taken by the Governments of India and Pakistan to resume the dialogue process and hoped that Islamabad and New Delhi will take tangible steps to further strengthen trade, travel and civil society exchanges across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir.
This cross LoC traders meeting was also an opportunity to convene an annual meeting of key members of the Jammu and Kashmir Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industries (JK-JCCI), the first-ever platform of Cross LoC collaboration, facilitated by Conciliation Resources.
During three-day meeting, representatives of the business community affiliated to Jammu and Kashmir Joint Chamber and other regional chambers and federations welcomed the steps taken by both Governments to resume the dialogue process.
President of J&K Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Y V Sharma while describing this meet as great opportunity for the traders on both sides to discuss their common issues, impressed upon the Governments of India and Pakistan to ensure hassle-free trade through Chakkan-da-Bagh and Rawlakote cross LoC point. He said both the governments must improve telecommunication, banking and other infrastructure related facilities for the traders on both the sides. He said the focus of the meeting was also to widen the scope of CBMs and extert pressure on both the Governments to seek better facilities for the cross LoC business community.
Meanwhile, the members on both the sides urged upon the Governments of India and Pak to take urgent steps to address various obstacles encountered by LoC traders including improving connectivity among traders from both sides, facilitating frequent meetings of traders at the LoC, improving infrastructure at the trade facilitation centers and the installation of full body truck scanners, enhancing banking facilities, increasing the list of tradable items and the number of trading days and further easing Custom procedures at the LoC point.
The members urged the governments to open new trade routes, particularly the Kargil-Skardu, Nowshera-Jhangar-Mirpur and Khour-Chhamb trade routes, to expand the scope and impact of CBMs in the region.
They also urged both Governments to expedite the facilitation of a trade delegation from Jammu and Kashmir to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir as soon as possible in 2016.
The members appreciated the leadership of the outgoing president of the JK-JCCI, Y V Sharma, and the achievements of the JK-JCCI under his leadership over the last two years. They agreed to elect a new president from the PoK side before 31 January, 2016. The president of the Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries and a person nominated by the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry will assume responsibility as joint presidents of JCCI from Jammu and Kashmir regions respectively, for the period from January 2016 to December 2017.
The members agreed that the JK-JCCI will provide greater support and recognition to the LoC trade federations as being key stakeholders in the confidence-building process and make best efforts to take steps to help them in resolving trade-related issues, the statement said.
They also agreed on improving communication among members of the JK-JCCI and on the formulation of a code of conduct in due course, it added.
The meeting stressed on the importance of including women in confidence-building processes and will encourage efforts to build the capacity of women entrepreneurs on both sides with a view to facilitating their future participation in trade and other confidence-building processes.
A website for the JK-JCCI to improve internal and external communication was launched, to make available to the public relevant information pertaining to cross-LoC trade and activities of the JK-JCCI.
The members expressed their deepest gratitude and appreciation to the regional participating organizations like Kashmir Chamber led by Mushtaq Wani, Jammu Chamber headed by Rakesh Gupta, Lalit Mahajan, Annil Suri and SB Abrol from Federation of Industries, Pawan Anand and Hilal Turk from Cross LoC Traders body and Federation of Industries Kashmir and Mirpur (PoK) Chamber agreed that outstanding issue relating to the membership and structures of JK-JCCI will be deliberated within the constituent organizations for evolving consensus.
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