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Kargil has no effect on Indo-Pak trade; SAARC free trade talks on July 10

Soroor Ahmed in Patna

Till date, the Kargil war has hardly had any impact on the trade between India and Pakistan and the next round of the SAARC Free Trade Agreement or SAFTA negotiation will take place as scheduled on July 10.

Stating this at a press conference here today, the Union Commerce Minister, Ramakrishna Hegde, agreed with the newsmen that if the war escalates, both India and Pakistan would be affected economically.

Pakistan, according to him, would be hit harder as it had lost all the battles in the past save that which were fought in the cricket pitches.

Hegde said that India had surplus trade with all the SAARC countries including Pakistan. He allayed the fear that the Kargil issue might create hurdles on the path of SAFTA as there was no problem with other SAARC countries. He said that the country was not fully prepared for e-commerce and said that it was a gradual process and "we are not in hurry."

The commerce minister, who arrived here on Tuesday evening, said that he had come to the state to explore the possibility to augment the export of fruits and vegetables from the state as Bihar is one of the leading producers of these products. He had discussion with the members of the Bihar Chamber of Commerce in this regard early today.

Hegde announced the formation of a taskforce to boost the trade of fruits, especially leechees and mangoes. It will consist of the chairman of the Agriculture Products Export Development Authority, which is a wing of the commerce ministry, president of the Bihar Chamber of Commerce and representatives of the producers, exporters and traders.

He said that it was rather surprising that Bihar could export only 18 tonnes of leechees this year when the total output is 2,50,000 tonnes. He said that leechees, which have the shortest lifespan among the fruits, can be preserved for as high as six months in the cold storage with captive power unit. The commerce minister disclosed that the total value of export from Bihar is Rs 20 billion and if the minerals are also taken into account, the figure jumps to Rs 100 billion.

Apart from the formation of taskforce, the commerce minister announced the plan to build a cargo complex at the Patna airport. Then, a bi-weekly international cargo flight would be introduced. Besides, inland container facilities would be provided to give fillip to distribution of fruits and vegetables from the state.

He clarified that there was no ban on the export of onions. "It has only been stopped. Let elections take place," he said. However, he hastened to add that he had allowed the export of some onions, especially those grown in south India. He does not rule out the possibility of rise in prices which, according to him, is a special pre-poll feature. He blamed the traders for such rise in prices of goods.

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