Pakistan not ready to give MFN status to India

New Delhi: Pakistan Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan said that Pakistan is in no mood to grant Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India. He further clarified that no such proposal is under consideration.

While, India had granted the MFN status to Pakistan way back in 1996, but they have not reciprocated.

He said that existence of the negative list means that MFN status has not been granted to India. 150 Indian items are being imported through border currently.

The minister added that Pakistan has to debate whether the security of the country and the trade can be kept separate.

Khan also said that Pakistan has raised their concerns with the World Trade Organisation about the security when it came to trade with India. Non-tariff barriers are though dealt on case to case basis.

He blamed the Modi government for no progress as he said that since NDA Government has come into power, there hasn't been any bilateral talks with India regarding trade.

India and Pakistan both share a strenuous political relation but with a border of almost 3000 KMs between them, both countries are forced to depend on each other. Locals of both countries close to the border, have a very similar culture and trade always been there since ancient times.

India and Pakistan both seem to follow the same tactics of blaming each other for security reasons and still there is no solution for the terrorism in the sub-continent.

With India pushing for foreign investment to increase, MFN status from Pakistan will not be a bad thing at all.

However, Pakistan does not seem to give MFN status to India anywhere in near future and it is a diplomatic blow for India.

India's trade with all of its neighbours has increased in recent times but because of political relations, trade with Pakistan faces too many hurdles. Governments sitting in capitals make decisions and impacts the lives of people living at the border and it increased the illegal nature of trade which turns into smuggling.

It is why India and Pakistan need to sort their issues so that people of both nations can enjoy a better and peaceful cross-border and economic relations.

(With inputs from agencies)

(Image credit http://i1.tribune.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/pak-afghan-trade-epa.jpg)