(1 Aug 2007)
August 1, 2007
1. Wide of members of the Indian and the Pakistani delegations arriving for news conference
2. Reporter asking question
3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Syed Asif Shah, Pakistani Commerce Secretary:
"We have agreed that India will facilitate the import of cement from Pakistan for which it will fast track the processes required for such imports into India. We are happy on that. The import of tea from India to Pakistan is improving. Quality is improving as well as quantity, and we want, we have agreed, that we will further facilitate this import from India to Pakistan, including by railway, if it is not already being done."
July 31, 2007
4. Wide of Pakistani Commerce Secretary Shah shaking hands with his Indian counterpart G.K. Pillai
5. Cutaway cameras
6. Wide of Indian and Pakistani delegations sitting across the table
August 1, 2007
7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Syed Asif Shah, Pakistani Commerce Secretary
"An important initiative we have agreed upon is to try and find a via-media where the no man's land between the two borders where currently coolies on either side pick up cargo from one side and ferry it to the other side. We will examine and see how trucks can actually move through the no man's land to the other side. This is an important initiative. A technical group will look at the details of how this is to be done and the first meeting of this technical group we have scheduled for 20th of August on the Pakistan side at Wagah."
8. Cutaway of cameraman
9. Shah and Pillai shaking hands at the end of news conference
STORYLINE:
Traditional enemies India and Pakistan on Wednesday agreed to boost two-way trade by more than five times to 10 (b) billion US dollars by 2010, and promised to speed up the import of cement from Pakistan to India.
Addressing a joint news conference in New Delhi, Pakistan's commerce secretary Syed Asif Shah said India had agreed to buy cement from Pakistan and sell more tea to its neighbour.
He said Pakistan was in a position to supply about 15 (m) million tonnes of cement annually.
Shah was speaking at the end of the fourth round of India-Pakistan talks on economic and commercial cooperation.
The two sides also agreed that a technical group would meet on August 20 at Wagah border crossing to study the cross-border movement of trucks.
At present, trucks are allowed only up to designated points at Wagah border from where workers ferry cargo across no man's land.
India and Pakistan also agreed to open bank branches in each other's territory by the end of December, after a four-decade gap, as part of the ongoing efforts by the two countries to improve economic ties.
Trade between India and Pakistan nearly doubled to 1.67 (b) billion US dollars in the financial year ending in March, from about 850 (m) million US dollars a year earlier, an Indian government statement said.
India and Pakistan at present mainly trade in tea, iron ore, textiles, engineering goods, industrial raw materials and dried fruits.
India also agreed to look into Pakistan's objection to New Delhi recently declaring "Super Basmati rice" as an approved variety for export.
The Pakistan commerce secretary told reporters that Pakistan has been exporting the "Super Basmati rice" variety since the 1990s, which it developed in the 1960s.
The South Asian neighbours at present allow only a limited number of goods to cross into each other's territory despite the vast potential for bilateral trade.
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