Eagerly waiting for MFN status: PHD Chamber

Business communities on both sides of the border are keenly looking forward to formal grant of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India by Pakistan, the PHD Chamber said today.

In a statement here, PHD Chamber Punjab Committee Chairman Rajiv Bali said the trade through the land border -Attari on the Indian side and Wagah on the Pakistani side -had increased manifold after trucks were allowed limited access in each other's territory since October 2007.

The trade between India and Pakistan, he said, is about USD 2.5 billion.

Bali said the MFN status would help channelise the huge quantum of indirect illegal trade via Dubai and other Central Asian countries helping the businessmen on both sides.

The business communities on both sides are, therefore, eagerly looking forward to the formal grant of MNF status to India, the statement said.