The Union Minister of State for Commerce, Jairam Ramesh, on Monday disclosed that across the LoC (Line of Control) trade was awaiting installation of a new government in Pakistan.
Addressing a media conference in Srinagar on Monday afternoon, Ramesh said that in all 23 items of trade will move across the LoC. Nine of these 23 items have been proposed by Pakistan while 14 by India.
The items proposed by Pakistan include handicrafts and fruits. The agreement, Ramesh said, would be in place within the next three months.
The LoC was thrown open for members of divided families in April 2005. So far hundreds of families on either side of the LoC have crossed over to meet their kin.
Once started, the trade across LoC will add another significant milestone to the ongoing Indo-Pak peace process and confidence building measures.
Kashmiri fruit traders have been pressing for a long time for the start of the trade.
Earlier the Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ramesh laid the foundation stone of the Rs 115.84 crore (Rs 1.15 billion) International Trade Centre (ITC), at Pampore near Srinagar.
To be completed in two years, the ITC would be the first of its kind in Jammu and Kashmir with the state-of-the-art exhibition halls, facilitating international exhibitions in the valley during summer -- a period when extreme hot weather conditions do not permit holding of such exhibitions in Delhi and other parts of the country.
