Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 29 will chair a meeting to review ‘Most Favoured Nation’ status to Pakistan.
The meeting will be attended by the officials of Ministry of External Affairs(MEA) and Ministry of Commerce.
India have adopted a tough stance against Pakistan in the wake of September 18 terror attacks in Uri area of Jammu and Kashmir. This comes after India decided to review Indus Water Treaty.
India had unilaterally granted Pakistan MFN status in 1996. It was granted under WTO’s General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Both India and Pakistan are signatories to this which means they have to treat each other and rest of WTO member countries as favoured trading partners.
According to Assocham, out of India’s total merchandise trade of USD 641 billion in 2015-16, Pakistan accounted for a meagre USD 2.67 billion. India’s exports to the neighbouring country worked out to
USD 2.17 billion, or 0.83 per cent, of the total Indian outward shipments while imports were less than USD 500
million, or 0.13 per cent, of the total inward shipments.
The Prime Minister yesterday chaired a review meeting of 56-year-old Indus Water Treaty during which it was decided that India will “exploit to the maximum” the water of Pakistan-controlled rivers, including Jhelum, as per the water sharing pact.
Attended by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, the Water Resources Secretary, and senior PMO officials, the meeting also noted that the meeting of Indus Water Commission can “only take place in an atmosphere free of terror”.
With ANI inputs
