Pakistan has not yet granted MFN status to India: Govt

New Delhi: The government on Monday said Pakistan has not adhered to the deadline for according the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India.

"It was expected that the complete phasing out of the negative list before the end of 2012 would complete the transition to MFN status to India by Pakistan. But this deadline of MFN status has not been adhered to by Pakistan," Minister of State for Commerce and Industry D Purandeswari said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. On the other hand, India has granted MFN status to Pakistan way back in 1996. Under the negative list regime, Pakistan has permitted imports from India of all but 1,200 items. However, Purandeswari said that both sides have made considerable progress in improving bilateral trade ties. "Pakistan has moved from a positive list regime to a negative list regime, which substantially increases the tradable items from India. India has similarly liberalised its earlier restrictions on inward/outward investment flows to Pakistan," she added The bilateral trade between the nations stood at USD 2.35 billion in 2012-13, as against USD USD 1.93 billion in the previous fiscal. PTI