The Bengal Chamber, along with IIM Calcutta Alumni Association and LSE Alumni Association, organized a lecture session on "Trade and economic possibilities and constraints between India and Pakistan" with Professor Dr. S Akbar Zaidi, a renowned Political economist from Pakistan on 10th June at The Bengal Chamber premises, Kolkata.

Professor Dr S Akbar Zaidi is a Pakistani Political Economist, and has a PhD in History. He has been a Visiting Professor at Columbia University, New York, since 2010, where he teaches one semester a year, and has a joint position at SIPA (the School of International and Public Affairs), and at MESAAS (the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies). He is also an Adjunct Professor at the IBA, Karachi, teaching one semester each year since 2011. He is a political economist with interests in political economy, development, the social sciences more generally, and increasingly, History. He has taught at Karachi University and at Johns Hopkins and has written over 75 academic articles in international journals and as chapters in books, as well as numerous books and monographs. Amongst his books, are: Military, Civil Society and Democratization in Pakistan (2011), The New Development Paradigm: Papers on Institutions, NGOs, Gender and Local Government (1999), and Pakistan’s Economic and Social Development: The Domestic, Regional and Global Context (2004). His latest book is Issues in Pakistan’s Economy: A Political Economy Perspective published by Oxford University Press in 2015. He is currently working on a book examining Class and State in Pakistan: Accumulation under Neoliberalism.

Mr. Deb A Mukherjee, Chairman,Energy and Environment Committee and Emerging Areas Committee, BCC&I delivered the welcome address with a brief background on Indo Pakistan trade relationship, cultural and historical heritage. The interactive session was well attended by the senior representatives of the Consular Corps, researchers, corporates and the media.

Dr. Zaidi commenced by thanking everyone for having him at the session. He spoke about Indo-Pak trade and spoke extensively on the present Pakistan economy, its relations with India and the ever increasing dependence on China.

Stating that India-Pakistan trade has thrived in spite of their "often-strenuous" bilateral ties, Dr. Zaidi observedthat the two countries can improve their trading relationship even without the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status or without achieving other major breakthroughs in international / multilateral trade negotiations.

He said that the two countries do not really need major breakthroughs in the bilateral relationships to improve bilateral trade. Basic things like better infrastructure, better road facility, and better protocols from both countries like rationalizing the trade transportation time at the border etc. can help the trade to flourish automatically.

He pointed out that Pakistan and India have been trading for seventy years. Even when every other relation between the two countries fails, trade continues to take place. Dr. Zaidi elaborated that despite the extensive road blocks concerning visas, telecommunication or frequent flights between the two nations, trade continues to take place.

Pakistan usually imports chemicals, raw materials for pharmaceuticals and also other machineries. India on the other hand does not import much from Pakistan. The bulk transportation takes place through roadway and railway routes, mostly through the Punjab- Haryana borders as compared to other border areas shared between India and Pakistan. Dr. Zaidi was of the opinion that better storage facilities would help enhance the overall productivity of this trade.

The economist said it was a sign of hope for both nations that in spite of such hostility, lack of proper communication, tension at the borders and general misconceptions about each other, a substantial amount of trading has taken place between the two nations.

The usual (official) trade that takes place between the two countries accounts for about $2.2 billion now and it is very much in India's favour as India exports much more than it imports from Pakistan. However, there is also a part of unofficial trade between the two countries that happens through places like Dubai and Singapore which is worth another two billion dollars, he noted, adding that the growth potential would be at least $10-15 billion if the India-Pakistan relationship normalises.

Terming the business relationship between the two nations as "one of the oddest in the whole world", Zaidi said there should be better communication and real man to man connectivity in order to utilise the full trading potential.

The emergence of Pakistani Middle Class has come about in a big way. Majority of them are into selling their labour to the Middle Eastern countries. As a result there is an increasing demand in consumer goods. A lot of money is coming slowly as investments from Singapore, Turkey and the Middle East.

He indicated that as US is cutting aids since the last few years and with China’s aggressive investment plans in Pakistan, his country has been moving closer towardsthe latter. He said more Pakistani students were studying in China than in the US.

He said Pakistan was expected to gain frominvestments worth USD 56 billion in infrastructure from China, but warned that prostrating before China under the guise of China Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC) might lead to potential debt problems. In some other countries, with rising costs and debts incurred by these host countries, a large chunk of land was handed over to the lending country in lieu of unpaid funds.

He mentioned that after the Agra Summit collapsed, Pakistan’s relation with India actually took a turn. People in both the countries know very little about each other. The difficult VISA and other communication systems make it even more difficult for people of the two nations to mingle freely. Dr. Zaidi also advocated for resumption of cricket between India and Pakistan in each other’s country saying if cricket starts between the two countries "other things will work out automatically". Cricket, he said, is something that should never stop nor be affected by relations between India and Pakistan.

Dr. Zaidi concluded his speech by saying that he was hopeful that more of people to people connect will help make things better between the two nations.