Daily Times

The business community fully supports the decision to build Kartarpur corridor to facilitate Sikhs travel to the final resting place of Baba Guru Nanak, a business leader said on Monday.

“The decision will not only help Sikhs to visit Pakistan without a visa but it can also bring Pakistan and India together and improve the country’s image,” said Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) presidential candidate Daroo Khan Achakzai. Speaking to the business community, Achakzai said that both the countries had agreed on a decade old proposal and this could pave the way for resolving other disputes. He said that Kartarpur corridor was a significant breakthrough which deserved all the praise it could get.

Daroo Khan Achakzai said that political consideration had remained one the biggest hurdles in the development of the SAARC region which housed 22 percent of the world’s population. “The situation calls for immediate steps by all the SAARC countries to boost intra-regional trade lest we miss the boat” he added. He said that Saarc was the biggest trading block in the world with the lowest level of trade. “The contribution of South Asia in the Global GDP is less than 2 pc and its share in exports in only 1.5 pc.

The pace of growth in SAARC region has been slower at 5 pc as compared with the other blocs,” he said, adding that for greater Asia we should enhance cooperation with China, Iran, Afghanistan, and Myanmar.

He said that the cost of cross-border trading in SAARC remained highest in the world while visa difficulties had become a barrier. He further said that new trade rules should be framed.

Published in Daily Times, November 27^th 2018.