TRADE associations, guilds and chambers are formed to promote, project and protect the interests of their community. The worth of such bodies is directly related to the critical mass they have in achieving the desired objectives and doing justice to their mandate.

It is, therefore, fit and proper to evaluate the performance of trade bodies directly involved in the cause of bilateral investment and trade liberalisation between India and Pakistan.

Chambers of commerce are important not just because they understand the benefits of closer economic linkages, but also because of the strong relationships. While at times they may not be totally immune from political tensions, yet they can find ways and means of keeping the dialogue intact.

India and Pakistan may not have achieved desirable progress on a number of fronts, yet one area where there has been significant movement in the past decade has been trade and commerce. In addition to the vision of the political leadership, chambers and trade associations too have played a vital role in urging their respective governments to ease out trade restrictions and liberalise the visa regime, enabling increased interactions between the business communities on both sides.

Trade and industry bodies in both India and Pakistan are keen to liberalise trade and remove red tape and bottlenecks. While accepting that there are serious security and survival concerns among many stakeholders and policymakers, it has now been established that liberalisation of trade and ushering in regional economic integration would be sustained, despite myriad efforts to insert a monkey wrench in the process.

Therefore, it is appropriate to assess the role of trade and industry representatives in bilateral trade and investment. The Saarc Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Saarc-CCI) is headquartered in Islamabad with a functioning secretariat. The president’s office rotates among Saarc members and it organises various events to promote the issues of business and industries of the eight members, more so with reference to Sapta and Safta.

A special focus is accorded to Pakistan-India trade and investment, as it is rightly agreed that addressing these issues coupled with mutual understanding would be the game changer in achieving the objectives of regional economic integration. The Saarc-CCI has an advantage in the sense that a combined focus is given to an issue, as it allows working space to deal with national concerns of each neighbouring country.

The India Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IP-CCI) is another joint initiative of businessmen. The members meet to formulate joint strategies and push for various reforms. However, it lacks persuasive influence because the leadership usually consists of those businessmen who are well-entrenched in FICCI, FPCCI, Saarc-CCI etc. Thus, there is mostly an overlapping of efforts. In fact, IP-CCI is not able to generate the desired results.

Another body is the Pakistan Business Council, which has a limited number of members who are among major corporations, groups or conglomerates. The PBC generally liaises with the Pak-India Joint Business Forum. The PIJBF is composed of representatives of the top corporations of both countries and has an edge over others in conveying the common concerns to New Delhi and Islamabad.

India’s mega national trade organisations like FICCI and CII have endeavored intensive lobbying and awareness-raising. A number of regional chambers like the PHD Chamber of Commerce (Punjab), South Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and the Gandhidham Chamber of Commerce (GCC) have been vociferously urging their respective state governments, as well as New Delhi, to take practical steps for giving a fillip to bilateral trade.

The South Gujarat Chamber of Commerce has taken the lead in establishing links with designated chambers of commerce in Pakistan. For this purpose, an MOU was signed with the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry in November 2013. The GCC too has urged state and central governments to open land crossings between Gujarat (Kutch region) and Sindh to rekindle trade ties between the two regions. So far, no tangible progress has been made in this direction.

The KCCI has been in the forefront in promoting bilateral trade and investment, granting MFN (or NDMA) status to India, opening the Munabao-Khokhrapar route for trade and people movement, assisting and organising exhibitions and visits by various Indian organisations such as FIEO, FISME etc, and more importantly, in establishing mutually beneficial linkages.

The proposed Mumbai-Karachi Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a valuable initiative of the Mumbai Chamber of Commerce and Industry and KCCI, would be a trailblazer once it receives formal approval from both governments. The KCCI is a prime stakeholder in Pakistan-India trade and commands the weight to strenuously lobby for a broad canvas of liberalisation of trade and immediate removal of all roadblocks, especially non-tariff trade barriers, which have haunted businessmen from enhancing official trade movement.

Currently, three global areas of concern for Pakistani businessmen and industrialists are the GSP Plus by the EU, substantial market access by the US, and bilateral trade with India. However, this does not rule out other serious and imperative issues such as infrastructure shortages, political instability, negative image and impact of terrorism and extremism, to name a few.

But these three broad global areas do and would make a formidable influence on the country’s economic fundamentals. Pakistan’s exports are a pitiful $25bn, and despite all projections and political visions, attaining the $30bn-threshold may not be realised till 2016.

India’s exports are in the zone of $325-330bn, and the Modi government has gone full force in drumming up huge exports, attracting massive foreign direct investment, and getting rid of bureaucratic slowpokes. A concerted strategy has been chalked out to mushroom shipments of the ‘Made in India’ brand worldwide.

The plethora of free trade agreements, preferential trade agreements, economic and political blocs, plus the ‘Observer’ status at many a world forum, are some of the fast-track initiatives undertaken by New Delhi. Trade and investment sectors have been very cleverly isolated from various contentious issues. This approach is really a pragmatic option and manifests favourable adherence to economic diplomacy.

Pakistan has a trade deficit with India, but this should not be an impediment, and nor should it be perceived with skepticism by policymakers. There is an imperative need to develop mutual comparative advantages through more regional integration. Trade facilitation, supply-side capacity, and the removal of prejudiced use of NTBs are critical to enhancing Pakistan’s export opportunities to India.

Of course, a reality-check is essential, especially to determine through in-depth investigations into informal trading that is more damaging than granting the NDMA or in removing the cobwebs that hamper formal trade, or, more significantly, a paradigm shift in common bias, distrust, and jingoism.

This is where the mantle of power of trade organisations comes into action. Otherwise, summits, conferences, research studies, and camaraderie would turn out to be quixotic adventures for a long, long time.

Majyd Aziz is a former President of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Tridivesh Singh Maini is a Senior Research Associate at the Jindal School of International Affairs, Sonepat, India

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business, October 6th, 2014