With two of its senior ministers backing the move to grant the MFN status to India, Pakistan today said it is not taking any "U-turn" on normalising trade with New Delhi.
With two of its senior ministers backing the move to grant the MFN status to India, Pakistan today said it is not taking any "U-turn" on normalising trade with New Delhi.
"The process of normalisation is already underway and the grant of MFN (Most Favoured Nation) status is part of that normalisation process. There is no question of U-turn about it," Pakistan High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik said in New Delhi.
The Commerce Secretary of Pakistan would be visiting India later this month as part of the ongoing discussion and dialogue and he will take the process forward, Malik said.
A senior Indian official said that Pakistan has "clearly back-tracked from the decision to grant the unqualified and unconditional MFN status".
He said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will take up the issue with his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the SAARC Summit next week in Maldives.
Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, both from the ruling Pakistan People’s Party, welcomed the move to grant MFN status.
Malik said the measure "would have a positive impact on bilateral relations".
However, he said that Parliament should reverse the decision to give India MFN-status if it is considered not favourable for Pakistan.
Mukhtar said granting MFN status to India would have "positive impacts on the economy of both countries".
After announcing on November 2 that its Cabinet has decided to grant the MFN status to India, Pakistan issued several confusing statements yesterday.
Grant of MFN status would mean that, as mandated by WTO, Pakistan will have to give trade treatment to India at par with its other partners. India had granted the MFN status to Pakistan way back in 1996.
A meagre bilateral trade of USD 2.65 billion is carried in a restricted manner. Pakistan allows import of only 1945 items through a 'positive' list. India,on the other hand, allows trade in all but 868 items in its 'sensitive list'.
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