Underlining the importance of normalisation of trade with India, Pakistan on Thursday said more decisions will be taken in "coming weeks and months" to improve trade ties but did not say when it will grant the much delayed Most Favoured National (MFN) status. ...
05:59 PM, Mar 28, 2013
Pakistan on Thursday said it cannot grant Most Favoured Nation-status to India before the reservations of all stakeholders are removed while pointing out that it was a "work in progress" and that a final decision is yet to be taken. ...
08:52 PM, Jan 24, 2013
India expects Pakistan to announce elimination of negative list of items later this month that will pave the way for full normalisation of bilateral trade and accordance of MFN status to New Delhi. Pakistan has missed the deadline of December 31, 2012, for phasing out the negative list regime. ...
09:57 PM, Jan 10, 2013
Amidst speculation that Pakistan will be unable to meet a January 1 deadline for giving the MFN status to India, the government on Thursday said it is working to complete the trade liberalisation process "as soon as possible". ...
03:26 AM, Dec 28, 2012
Islamabad: Pakistan is moving towards granting Most Favoured Nation-status to India "despite some hurdles" as the two countries have made significant progress in trade cooperation, President Asif Ali Zardari said on Wednesday. Zardari referred to the importance of regional trade while addressing a dinner hosted by him at the presidency to mark the 50th anniversary of Pakistan-EU relations and said his government had designated 2012 as the "Year of Regional...
11:59 PM, May 09, 2012
Islamabad: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday said that granting Most Favoured Nation-status to India was a "paradigmatic shift in policy driven by the business sectors on both sides of the border". Zardari made the remarks at a dinner hosted by the Lahore Chambers of Commerce and Industry at the presidency in Islamabad. "The decision would reconstruct the region's economies and increase its stability," he said. The dinner was...
07:49 AM, May 03, 2012
Islamabad: The Pakistan government on Wednesday issued a notification for switching over to a negative list regime for trade with India, under which the import of only 1,209 Indian products will be barred. The Commerce Ministry issued the Statutory Regulatory Order for trade with India under the negative list regime, officials said. According to the notification, a total of 1,209 items have been included in the negative list and will...
08:59 PM, Mar 21, 2012
Islamabad: Pakistan Commerce Secretary Zafar Mahmood has said that the government will not grant Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India unless a mechanism is evolved to protect domestic industry. "We are making sure that we will safeguard our industry first by consulting all stakeholders, including all chambers of commerce and other trade associations, before we grant MFN status (to India) and there is no international pressure in this regard,"...
09:02 PM, Dec 22, 2011
Islamabad: Pakistan on Thursday said the process of giving India Most Favoured Nation status to boost bilateral trade is expected to be completed by October next year. Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said "October next year is the time-frame which has been given" for granting MFN status to India. He was responding to a question during the weekly news briefing on the latest status of the Pakistan government's move to...
10:06 PM, Dec 08, 2011
Lahore: The Jamaat-ud-Dawah, blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, on Thursday organised a rally to protest the Pakistan government's move to give Most Favoured Nation-status to India. JuD leaders who addressed the rally accused India of being behind shortage of water that is affecting Pakistani farmers. Several farmers riding tractors participated in the rally, which wound its way from from Azadi Chowk to Nasir Bagh Chowk. Senior JuD leader Ameer...
08:48 AM, Nov 25, 2011
Islamabad: The Jamaat-ud-Dawah, blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, has threatened to organise a sit-in protest at the Wagah land border crossing if Pakistan grants Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India. JuD leaders, including Ameer Hamza, Hasnain Siddique and Hafiz Khalid Waleed, issued the warning while addressing a gathering at Chowburji in Lahore during a protest organised on Saturday to oppose the move to grant India MFN status. JuD...
07:31 PM, Nov 19, 2011
Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday said a decision is "yet to be taken" on the issue of granting Most Favoured Nation-status to India and that the cabinet had authorised the Commerce Ministry to conduct negotiations in this regard. Responding to points raised by lawmakers in the National Assembly or lower house of parliament, Gilani said the people and parliament would be taken into confidence on the...
09:24 AM, Nov 17, 2011
New Delhi: Pakistan took further steps toward normal trade and travel ties with India on Tuesday, agreeing to open most commerce with its larger neighbour by February in the latest sign of a thaw in relations between the nuclear-armed rivals. At a bilateral meeting in Delhi, the two countries' trade secretaries agreed Pakistan will notify India by February of a 'negative list' of items that it cannot trade with its...
06:53 PM, Nov 15, 2011
Jammu: Batting strongly for the grant of Most Favoured Nation status to India by Pakistan, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said Islamabad would benefit most if India gets the MFN status. "I don't know whether Pakistan has given the Most Favoured Nation status to India or not," Omar told reporters here. "I know for years, we have been working to get such a status. I was...
05:24 PM, Nov 09, 2011
Gan (Maldives): Ahead of the bilateral meeting between the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan, their foreign secretaries met on Tuesday and agreed that "stable, normal and predictable" bilateral ties were in their interest and the region. Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai met his Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir as officials from the SAARC group of nations began arriving for the two-day summit that begins on Thursday. Mathai and Bashir expressed satisfaction...
10:26 PM, Nov 08, 2011
Maldives: Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir on Tuesday said there was no confusion over granting the most favoured nation (MFN) status to India and informed that Commerce Secretaries of the two countries will meet this month. "In principle MFN has been issued, but bureaucracy needs to work to implement it. We are moving in right directions," said Bashir. "We need to have mutually beneficial trade relations," he said. Earlier, Pakistan...
05:02 PM, Nov 08, 2011
New Delhi: Pakistan on Friday said it is not taking any "U-turn" on normalising trade relations with India and granting the MFN status is a part of that process. "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 here. He was...
05:31 PM, Nov 04, 2011
Islamabad: Pakistan's cabinet unanimously decided on Wednesday to grant India Most Favoured Nation status to liberalise trade between the two South Asian countries. Pakistan's Information Minister Firdos Ashiq Awan said, "Today after an extensive briefing by the commerce secretary, the cabinet unanimously decided to grant India Most Favoured Nation status." Trade has long been tied to political issues between the neighbours, who have fought three wars since independence. There are...
06:49 PM, Nov 02, 2011
