AMRITSAR - Amritsar is looking to revive trade with help from Pakistan. The trading community in the two countries feels there is much scope for increasing business between them through the land route to millions of dollars. Why do the two countries - which have a common land border that is so accessible - have to trade through the sea route via Karachi, Mumbai and Dubai? We can trade so many things through the Wagah-Attari border at negligible cost, said M Khurshid Barlas, chief executive of the Pakistan World Trade and Expo Centre in Islamabad. Amritsar is the gateway of trade to the whole of India. The market potential of both the countries is great. The needs of the people are the same, standards match and product acceptability can be easily found on both sides. I see no reason why trade ties through here cannot improve in the future. It is so comfortable to trade here, Barlas said. Scores of members of the Pakistan business community were here last week to be part of the Punjab International Trade Expo (PITEX) organised by the Punjab Haryana Delhi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI). Chambers of industry from Karachi, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Islamabad and other places in Pakistan, who were here for PITEX, said the scope of trading through Amritsar was immense. Trade through the land border - Attari on the Indian side and Wagah on the Pakistan side - has increased manifold after trucks have been allowed limited access in each others territory since October 2007. Amritsar, an important trade centre for northern India in the pre-independence (1947) era, lost much of the trade and industrial activity after the creation of Pakistan and strict restrictions along the border by the two countries. The restricted trade through the Attari-Wagah land border has India importing cement, fruits, dry fruits, chemicals and fertiliser from Pakistan while it exports vegetables (onions and tomatoes), livestock and a few other things.