Pakistan, India to discuss improvement in cross-border trade

Senior Pakistani and Indian foreign ministry officials are scheduled to meet on Tuesday to discuss "ways and means to further streamline and improve the modalities regarding trade across the Line of Control, which divides the two countries in the disputed Kashmir region, the Foreign Ministry said.

The talks in New Delhi will take place after the cross-LoC trade and bus services were temporarily suspended on January 15 in a tit-for-tat detention of drivers over allegations and counter- allegations of narcotic smuggling. The trade and bus services have now been resumed.

Pakistani Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry and Indian High Commissioner Dr. T.C.A. Raghavan agreed in their meeting in Islamabad in January to hold a meeting of the Pakistan-India Joint Working Group (JWG) on Cross-LoC Confidence Building Measures in New Delhi on March 4.

The last JWG meeting was held in July 2012 in Islamabad.