India, Pakistan rivalry costs $35 billion worth of annual trade, says World Bank

Trade between India and Pakistan, the region’s two largest economies, could jump to $37 billion from $2 billion if New Delhi and Islamabad tore down artificial barriers, last week’s World Bank report found.

India and Pakistan’s bitter rivalry is costing them $35 billion worth of annual trade, the World Bank said in a report.

Mohammed Bashir, a 60-year old US-based Pakistani cricket fan, holds up the national flags of India and Pakistan on the eve of a cricket match between the two nations (AFP File Photo)

Someone might want to tell the two countries’ leaders -- both of whom want to boost trade to battle widespread poverty. The World Bank called for South Asia, the world’s least economically-integrated region, to start cooperating instead of feuding. Trade between India and Pakistan, the region’s two largest economies, could jump to $37 billion from $2 billion if New Delhi and Islamabad tore down artificial barriers, last week’s report found.

But the breakdown last week of the most recent attempt by the two nuclear-armed nations to mend ties showed, once again, why South Asia -- with 33 percent of the world’s poor and 40 percent of the world’s stunted children -- is unlikely to realize those gains.

On Thursday, India’s foreign ministry announced it had accepted Pakistan’s request for a foreign minister-level meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. It was the first such attempt since 2015 -- when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprise visit to see then Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif at his home in Lahore.

By Friday, India called off the sit down amid fresh violence and its foreign ministry said Islamabad’s “evil agenda” had been exposed and any talks would be “meaningless.”

The World Bank said total “intraregional” trade in goods could rise to $67 billion from $23 billion if South Asian nations eliminated tariffs and non-tariff barriers.