New Delhi: India and Pakistan should bury their hatchet and explore joint ventures in areas like food, pharma and IT sectors to boost bilateral trade, Assocham said on Monday.
"The two countries need to begin afresh, burying their differences and explore ways through establishing trade relations...," the chamber said in a release.
It has identified 10 areas for joint venture agreements between India and Pakistan in order to scale up their two-way trade, which currently stands stagnated at around USD 2 billion a year.
About 60 per cent of the trade between India and Pakistan is not included in the official data as it takes place through third countries, including Dubai and Singapore, it added.
"The third-party route for trade chosen by India and Pakistan can be abandoned if the two find out ways to come close," an Assocham official Ravi Wig said.
He said Karachi and Lahore chambers of commerce are of the view that both governments needs to be facilitate issuances of long-term visa for business purposes.
The government has maintained that unless Pakistan stops use of its territory by terrorists, India cannot resume dialogue with the neigbhouring country.
PTI
First Published: Monday, January 11, 2010, 20:07