By Tejash Modi, Surat, 17 April 2012

A trade delegation led by Senior Vice President of Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry(KCCI) Younus Muhammad Bashir Orawala was today on visit to Surat. With the strenth of 70,000 members, KCCI is one of the eight biggest chambers of commerce in the world.

The members of the delegation met the members of the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industries.

Members of Pakistani delegation are in India to visit the Textile exhibition in New Delhi. Surat was their second destination here.

SGCCI President Rohit Mehta said that man-made fabric of Surat is very famous in Karachi, however it reaches Pakistan via Bangladesh, Dubai or Afghanistan which makes it costly. The Karachi Chamber members are on Surat visit to explore the chances of direct trade between Karachi and Surat.

The synthetic fabric import from India is in the negative list. If Pakistan government allowed trade in synthetic fabrics from India, then Surat could become the biggest exporter. At present, Surat is officially exporting about $5 million worth of synthetic fabrics to Dubai and that about 90 per cent of these products are re-exported to Pakistan.

Younus Muhammad Bashir promised Surat counterparts to take up the issue of removing synthetic fabric trade from India from the negative list.