By IANS,
Jammu : A 19-member delegation of traders from Pakistan-administered Kashmir arrived here Sunday amid a warm welcome by their Jammu counterparts and vows to promote trade and friendship between the two parts of the divided Jammu and Kashmir.
The delegation flew to the winter capital after spending three days in Srinagar where they had arrived Oct 9.
Led by the Pakistani Kashmir’s industry lobby president Zulfikar Abbasi, the delegation was received by leaders of trade organisations at the Jammu airport.
Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Ram Sahai led the traders at the airport to welcome the guests, who are staying at a luxurious hotel in the heart of the Jammu city.
The traders from across the border will stay here for three days to discuss modalities for cross-border commerce expected to start Oct 21 between two parts of divided Kashmir. They will then return to Srinagar, from where they will head to Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir.
“They will be taken around the markets and industrial areas to interact with people so that they have a fair idea as to what all we have and how we can promote trade and friendship,” Sahai said.
Abbasi said the trade between two parts of the divided Kashmir would help promoting peace in the region.
“We had fruitful discussions in the Kashmir valley and hope to have fruitful interaction here too,” he said.
India and Pakistan have agreed to begin the cross-Line of Control (LoC) trade in Jammu and Kashmir from Oct 21 when trucks will start moving on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad route. A week later, on Oct 28 lorries will begin rolling between Poonch in Jammu and Rawlakote in Pakistani Kashmir.
The move was announced in the New York meeting between Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last month.