India, Pak to talk in March to review air services

Top officials from India and Pakistan would hold talks in March to review the bilateral air services agreement, to further commercial cooperation and to iron out differences on tariff and non-tariff barriers. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said the civil aviation officials of both the countries would meet in New Delhi on March 7-8 to review the existing bilateral air services agreement.

A Pakistani delegation headed by retired Gen. Muhammad Asharaf Chaudhry, Additional Secretary of Defence would travel to New Delhi for talks with their counterparts, a ministry statement said.

The officials will discuss the possibility of setting up air links between more cities and increasing the number of airlines flying the routes, it said. In 2005 the two sides held inconclusive discussions in Islamabad. During that meeting Pakistan surprised India by asking for permission to operate its Pakistan International Airlines flights to Kochi, Hyderabad and Chennai, besides the existing Delhi and Mumbai.

In addition, Pakistan has offered Islamabad and Peshawar as additional routes for Indian Airlines and Indian private operators.

India, while promising to consider Pakistan's request for three more destinations on Indian routes, did not show much interest in the new destinations proposed by Islamabad due to viability factor. Both sides also held inconclusive discussions over permitting private airlines between the agreed destinations.

In another development, Secretary Commerce Syed Asif Ali Shah has said he would be holding talks with his Indian counterpart in New Delhi in the third week of March to discuss economic and commercial cooperation within the framework of the third round of the Composite Dialogue Process.

The dates of the secretary-level trade talks will be finalized with the consent of foreign ministries, Shah told Geo TV in Islamabad. The two sides will discuss visa facilities for businessmen, tariff and non-tariff issues in this round of talks on economic and commercial cooperation, he said.

Pakistan wants to boost bilateral trade volume, for which India must remove obstacles, he said. Foreign Ministry officials of both the countries were in the process of finalising dates for officials-level talks on the remaining items of the third round of Composite Dialogue process, which included Siachen and Sir Creek.

The two sides formally began the third round with Foreign-Secretary level talks in New Delhi in December 2006 with discussions on Kashmir, Peace and Security and CBMs.