Trade team on Pak visit

A team comprising representatives of industry, politics, culture and medical services have held a series of high-level meetings in Pakistan in a bid to step up exchanges between the two countries and further trade relations.

Organised by the Kolkata-based think-tank Bengal Initiative, it held meetings with businessmen in Lahore and Islamabad, and attended a dinner hosted by the Pakistan foreign ministry.

Businessmen like KD Paul of Bisk Farm and Panna Roychowdhury of precision instrument maker Adair Dutt & Co said they expected exports to Pakistan to rise after their visit there.

"Former members of the Indian National Army of Subhas Chandra Bose held a meeting with Indian team member Krishna Bose, former Parliamentarian and the widow of Sisir Bose, who had escorted Subhas Bose to Pakistan after his escape from house arrest in Kolkata", said team leader Amiya Gooptu.

Kolkata's leading doctors, like surgeon Saibal Gupta and homeopath Dr P Banerjee were overwhelmed by the demand for Indian medical expertise in Pakistan, they added.