India and Pakistan are making
efforts to ease the visa regime between the two countries and
officials will hold further talks on the issue in August,
Indian High Commissioner Sharat Sabharwal has said.Indian officials held successful talks with their
Pakistani counterparts on visa issues in Islamabad during June
2-3 and the next round of discussions has been scheduled for
August in New Delhi, Sabharwal said.Addressing a function hosted yesterday by the
Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry,
Sabharwal said: "We have reached the conclusion that bilateral
trade is the best tool to melt the ice. It is the most
effective confidence-building measure."
Pakistan's trading community has for long been pushing
for improved relations with India, he noted."We will continue to facilitate the local business
community with the aim to boost trade, which will be a win-win
situation for both countries," he said.Following a meeting of the India-Pakistan Joint
Working Group on visa issues earlier this month, the two
countries said they would continue discussions so that a new
visa agreement could be finalised at the next meeting of their
Home and Interior Secretaries.The two sides announced that the next meeting of the
Joint Working Group would take up amendments in the existing
visa agreement. PTI