Pak-India land trade now in big capacity trucks and also on Sundays

Chandigarh, India May 4 (PTI) In an attempt to further boost bilateral trade, India and Pakistan have agreed to allow traders to use big capacity trucks and to undertake import and export even on Sundays through the Attari-Wagah land route on their border. The decision was taken by the Customs Liaison Border Committee (CLBC), comprising senior custom officials of Amritsar Customs Department of India and Lahore Customs Department of Pakistan, at a meeting held this week in Pakistan. "It has now been decided that traders of both the countries - India and Pakistan - can send their goods in any capacity of trucks. It means that now there is no bar on using trucks of big capacity," Customs (Amritsar), Additional Commissioner, Sunil Katiyar told PTI over phone. Earlier, there had been little clarity on the capacity of trucks that could be used for trade between the two nations via Attari-Wagah land route. This move will facilitate import of cement and gypsum from Pakistan and export of vegetables, soybean extraction and other commodities from India in big quantities, traders said. "It is a welcome move which will further provide impetus to trading activity at the land route," said Amritsar based trader Anil Mehra. Currently, Indian traders are using less capacity trucks that can carry items up to 20-30 tonnes. In an another move, customs officials of both countries have also agreed to open trade on Sunday at their respective Integrated Check Posts. "A decision has been taken to carry on trade activity even on Sunday in order to decongest any trade movement between the two countries," Mehra said. However, he said that the decision of opening of trade on Sunday between India and Pakistan would be reviewed in the next meeting of CLBC scheduled in the month of June. The meeting was attended by Amritsar Customs Commissioner P S Sodhi and Collector Customs, Lahore, Ali Salman Abbasi, besides other officials. India and Pakistan commenced cross border trade from Attari Check post at Amritsar in India to Wagah border between the two countries in October, 2007, after a gap of 60 years. Trade between the two countries through land route rose by 44 per cent to Rupees 23.41 billion (about USD 450 million) in 2011-12 as compared to the previous fiscal. PTI