Sukhbir in Pak to boost two-way trade

Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal Monday went across the international border here to boost trade with Pakistan's Punjab province.

He is accompanied by a 30-member delegation that includes industrialists, exporters, traders and government officials.

"The trade through the land border route has big scope of increasing in the coming time. We will discuss this with the government, industrialists and traders there. This will benefit Punjab on both sides of the border," Badal told reporters here, 30 km from Amritsar.

Ahead of the visit, Badal said over the weekend that more, liberal trade between the two Punjabs through the Attari-Wagah crossing would be a "game changer" for the economy of North India.

Stressing that trade is an important confidence-building measure (CBM), he asked the Indian government to liberalise archaic economic rules to make two-way trade easier and enter the Central Asian and Iranian markets.

"We will be discussing the trade issues. The decision on increasing trade has to be taken by the governments of India and Pakistan," said Badal.

Industries Minister Anil Joshi and Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia were also members of the delegation which would visit Lahore and Nankana Sahib, birth place of Guru Nanak, founder of Sikhism, over four days.