India and Pakistan occupy a special place among South Asian countries as the two economies are large and developed economies and are most competent in terms of domestic development and regional development. Though both the countries enjoy geographical proximity, bilateral trade between the countries has been abysmally low ever after independence. Dialogues about trade normalisation between India and Pakistan started in April 2011. Agenda of these dialogues included granting of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India by Pakistan, removal/harmonisation of non-tariff barriers, border infrastructure, customs cooperation, harmonisation of customs procedures, visas, bilateral investments, and opening of bank branches, etc.

In order to push the agenda of normalisation of Indo-Pak trade relations, BRIEF conducted a study, to identify the roadblocks to trade between India and Pakistan and present a set of recommendations towards normalization of India Pakistan Trade. The Study was funded by GIZ, Nepal and was commissioned to BRIEF by FISME, New Delhi. Duration of the project was of one month, from May 1, 2014 to May 31, 2014.

The objective of this study is to put forward the agenda of trade normalisation between India and Pakistan and that there can be some serious efforts made from the governments of both the sides to Normalise Trade.