Pakistan approves ‘Most Favoured Nation’ status for India

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday formally announced to grant the status of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) to India, following the approval of the Federal Cabinet which met here with Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani in chair.
Later, briefing the newsmen about the Cabinet decisions, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said that Pakistan has taken this decision keeping in view its national interests and taking all stakeholders into confidence and without compromising the national sovereignty.
Pakistan, she said, has already granted MFN status to 100 countries including China for boosting its regional trade for the benefit of the country.
The minister recalled that granting of MFN status to India was started in 1947 and 1948 as Father of Nation, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Quaid-e-Millat Nawabzada Liaqat Ali Khan had initiated this vision and the present government has fulfilled their vision.
Regarding the reported increase in the price of Urea, she said a committee in this regard has been formed on the directives of the Prime Minister so that the farmers could not face any problems regarding availability of this important agriculture input on reasonable prices without any hindrance.
Secretary Commerce Zafar Mehmood, highlighting the decisions regarding granting of MFN status to India, said that trade with the country continued uninterrupted till 1965 and during this period the two countries signed 12 bilateral trade agreements but after Pakistan-India war all agreements were suspended.
He said both the countries were doing trade under General Agreement on Tariffs and Tarde (GATT) but after the World Trade Organization (WTO) replaced GATT, India granted MFN status to Pakistan.
He said with the decision of granting MFN status to India, both states would dismantle the non-tariff barriers, thus facilitating the trade between two countries.
“In this regard the two countries would hold a commerce secretary level meeting on November 15”, he said.