Pak trade delegation puts off India visit

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's industry body, which had planned to take a 100-member delegation to India on a trade promotion tour, has decided to postpone the visit in view of the political situation after the Mumbai blasts.

The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry President Mohammad Saeed was scheduled to lead the delegation to India through Wagah border. The trip, from July 31 to August 5, was to include interaction with the economic forum in Chandigarh and tour to Shimla and New Delhi.

"The FPCCI has decided to postpone the visit in view of the current political situation after the Mumbai catastrophe," former FPCCI president Tariq Saeed told local daily Dawn.

He said the delegation, representing almost all the main sectors from export-oriented industries to leading local producers, was to interact with Indian counterparts on broader perspective.

Some leading businessmen had to present a paper on their respective sectors during various meetings and the economic forum. Besides, some industrialists were scheduled to present a paper on bottlenecks hampering the utilisation of business and trade potentials between the two neighbours, he said.

"Prior to the Mumbai blasts, everything was going swiftly between the two countries, such as exchange of political and trade delegations, business interaction and composite dialogues on the political fronts," he said.