Zeebiz Bureau

New Delhi: The India-Pakistan dargah diplomacy seems to have paid off as the former may soon allow foreign direct investment from the latter, said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Reiterating the PM’s statement, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma also said that India will soon allow FDI from Pakistan. This comes in the wake of President Asif Ali Zardari having an hour-long meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his one-day India visit.

Expected to bolster bilateral trade relations, the decision of allowing Pakistani funds to invest in India will also have a positive impact on small-time trading as well.

Earlier on Thursday, Pakistani Commerce Secretary Zafar Mahmood said that both the nations will also soon sign an agreement for a new liberalised visa regime for businessmen.

Under the new visa regime, businessmen from both the countries will be able to get visas for more than one year and can also travel to 10 cities in the respective country that they are visiting .

Mahmood said, “we expect the meeting (between the Interior Ministry of Pakistan and the Home Ministry of India) to take place in April or May, in which it would be formally announced.”