TIL Desk/World/Islamabad/ Pakistan has “no immediate plans” to grant Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India, a senior aide to Prime Minister Imran Khan has said, amid the chill in bilateral ties. Asked whether the government was considering granting MFN status to India and that Prime Minister Khan was keen to hold peace talks with the Indian government, Adviser to the Prime Minister for Commerce, Textile, Industry and Investments, Abdul Razak Dawood said, “No such plans at the moment”.
“At present we have no immediate plans to grant MFN status to India,” he said at an event in Lahore on Tuesday. However, he said Pakistan is working out free trade agreements with different countries, especially China, and hopes to complete the second FTA with China by June, 2019.
Pakistan is yet to award the MFN status to India and it maintains a negative list of 1,209 items which are not permitted to be imported from India. As per a World Trade Organisation rule, every member of WTO is required to accord this status to other member countries. India has already granted this status to all WTO members, including Pakistan.
