Islamabad: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday appointed Khurram Dastagir Khan as Pakistan`s Minister of State for Commerce and Textiles.
Khan was earlier Minister of State for Privatisation and will now move to the Commerce Ministry. Sharif holds the commerce and textiles portfolio.
Before taking charge as Minister of State for Privatisation on June 23, Khan was inducted as the Minister of State for Science and Technology on June 12.
He has been heading the National Assembly`s standing committee on commerce for the past five years.
Despite several promises by the previous Pakistan People`s Party-led government, the proposal to grant Most Favoured Nation-status to India has been delayed by almost a year.
India granted MFN-status to Pakistan way back in 1996.
The Dawn newspaper reported that many parliamentarians had started lobbying for their appointment as Minister of State for Privatisation, apparently because the department would see a lot of activity in future as the government has unveiled plans to privatise over 30 state-run enterprises.
However, the government is yet to execute the plan.
