India not granted MFN status, says Gilani

[JanjaWeed]

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Do India really care whether they get MFN status or not? I don't see this as something of any significance to India. Had this been, they wouldn't have given MFN status to Pakistan in the first place without getting the same in return!!

[jayron]

Another reason to believe Pakistan is not interested in peace and there is a significant population with vested interests making sure it never happens. What a shame!

[Pk_Thunder]

Ties with India, US improving: Foreign Minister

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's most troubled foreign relationships have improved in recent months, its top diplomat said on Saturday, pointing to upcoming trade talks with New Delhi and broad agreement on regional security goals with Washington as evidence.

Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, in an exclusive interview with Reuters, said negotiations to normalise trade with India would allow progress on other issues between the two nuclear-armed South Asian rivals.

"I think it's broadly agreed that we need to make some simultaneous progress on these issues," she said.

The hope is that an increase in trade will feed into wider trust between the two countries and help them resolve major flashpoints, like the disputed Kashmir region, although a solution to this problem has proved intractable for decades.

"But there has been a great improvement in the environment," she said. "I think we can move forward."

She strongly denied that Pakistan was not committed to finalising Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status for India, as alleged by an unnamed Indian government official on Friday, who said Islamabad was "backtracking" on the issue in the face of domestic opposition.

"There is absolutely no question of backtracking of cabinet approval of trade normalisation with India," she said. "I want to completely dismiss any indication that there's any retraction
on what we said."

Pakistan announced it would upgrade India to a most favoured nation on Wednesday, a move that would help normalise commercial ties by ending heavy restrictions on what India is allowed to export across the border.

Khar said the two countries' commerce secretaries would meet in mid-November to hammer out the details of the trade agreement, but that there was no lack of commitment to the agreement itself.

"The cabinet very clearly gave them a way forward, which is trade normalisation with India," she said.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also rejected the charges of backtracking in comments to reporters in Lahore on Saturday.

Khar said relations with the United States were also on the mend, with "a complete convergence of stated interests" on Afghanistan.

"Nothing would make us happier than a strong government in Afghanistan," she said. "I look at the last few weeks, and relations with the US have been generally positive. It's basically the operational details to agree on.

[JanjaWeed]

Another reason to believe Pakistan is not interested in peace and there is a significant population with vested interests making sure it never happens. What a shame!

One can't really assess the significance of this to India, but for Pakistan it could be of greater magnitude. Announcement of granting MFN to India came after India decided to support Pakistan at WTO for EU trade concession. What if India goes back on its word & scuttle this move the way they did last time? I'm sure some sane Pakistanis must be thinking the same now!!

[WAQAS119]

This seems to be a good decision considering Anti-Pakistan propaganda spree by various Indian/Indian Origin Media units right after this "MFN granted" episode.

[Bhairava]

I dont understand this.

Do Pakistanis 'actually' think they are doing India a favour by granting them MFN status ?

They are only doing themselves a favour.

[illusion8]

Just a LOL.. nothing more..

Who gives a **** whether Pakistan gives a MFN status or not we have much better things to do, A lot of Peace hopefuls were expecting this to be true, sorry bros return to the real world. Please smell the coffee as my signature says.

[Mani2020]

One thing you guys need to understand that there is not only the influence of foreign policies or for that matter govt individuals on granting MFN status to india but there are many other factors involved as well. Like the presence of foreign companies in Pakistan may it be through FDI, Non-equity arrangement or exports they know that trade with india means lost of market share for them , and for monopolies it will be a nightmare ..to avoid that they will be lobbying the govt and in some cases the govts of their countries directly do that......

Even because of such lobbying Pakistan has lost many of its local companies.... Like you can take the example of Adam cars which was a local company producing cars, trucks and SUVs but in its initial phase the huge lobbying from Japan to govt resulted into no support by govt for the local company resulting into the closure of that company ...because if it would have grown it would have been a direct competitor to Japanese companies and may have taken a chunk of market share from them due to the cost leadership factor ......

Similarly there are other examples too.... so rather then yelling here or blaming to a specific person or entity will not do a good to anyone ....try to look out for different prospects that are affecting the proposition

[Night_Raven]

Pakistan had a headstart when India provided them MFN in 1996 , couldn't capitalize ... in addition violated WTO treaties and didn't provide the MFN status in return which is the norm ....

Now they are mulling providing the MFN status to India ... still can't make up their minds ... sigh ! :(

[alimukhtar]

[hinduguy]

As far as I know, MFN (although the name suggests) is not the highest level of economic treaty two country can agree to enter. Rather it is the lowest one.
Pakistan granting MFN to India, will not mean, Indian goods will be considered at same level for tariff as pakistani goods. It will mean pakistan will not discriminate indian goods and favour goods of another MFN counry, say . china.

Please feel free to point out if anybody thinks I am wrong.

[Xracer]

Topi Dramay

[oyea]

Indians are still earning in billions from the trade and the balance is in China's favour because of less in offering from India. Furthermore nations doing business are usually not dim to a blogger's level and can alter influx and out flux of trade/goods to save their own markets. This is what India has been doing, just recently we capped iron ore export to China for our own mills (just an example). I can bet Pakistanis are intelligent enough to keep the balance accordingly.

Pakistan can earn with what he can offer/sells and refuse to buy if the balance tilts too much towards India. Also your dweeby statement can go against you when someone will call you out to explain Sino-Pak free trade treaty.

Something is better than nothing.

First of all, agree I shouldn't have referred to PM as a dweeb, so let that be out of the way.

Second, this MFN granting came rather abruptly after Secretary Clinton's visit. If you didn't comprehend my reservations about proper regulations being implemented with regards to trade with India, then it's your reading comprehension problem!

Third, furthermore, our relations with China are polar opposite of what we have with India. They make gargantuan investments in our country. Also, we have no unresolved border dispute with China. Attempts to balance out the Pak-China trade are repeatedly considered and ongoing.

Fourth, in my previous post, I believe I overestimated India's ability to destroy all Pakistan's industries, etc. But that doesn't mean there won't be severe problems if proper safeguards aren't implemented! Which is why I had serious reservations given the abrupt 'decision' taken by the 'cabinet' bypassing the parliament!

Fifth, it's good to hear now that the cabinet decision was not a final decision. Rather, it was simply an 'approval stamp' for the case of trading with India. Thankfully the 'operationalization' still has to be worked out, meaning it ain't going forward unless there's a consensus on it!

[kas786]

Give India MFN status already. Stupid politicians. It's a win-win situation for both countries.

[Mani2020]

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Give India MFN status already. Stupid politicians. It's a win-win situation for both countries.

I dont know how it will be a win situation for us, already our markets are flooded with chinese products , from pencil to electronics Chinese products are everywhere at a much cheaper price as a result local companies have suffered alot , Due to the inflation and poverty rate people focus more on buying cheap products rather than analysing the cost vs benefit ratio. If india will be allowed MFN status it means our markets will be flooded with indian products as well due to the size of their country and the number of companies and amount of production ...as a result the remaining companies will also cripple ...until and unless there is calculated amount of tariff charged which can make indian products at power with the local products in terms of price or may government should provide subsidies to local companies but seems highly unlikely due to the corrupt nature of government...For me there should surely be trade with india but in limited manner , there should be a quota system or an arrangement through which both countries can export goods to each other of same total worth