Secretary General (Federal) Businessmen Panel (BMP) Ahmad Jawad has slammed India for withdrawing the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status for Pakistan, saying it will not impact on us as well on economy. On 16th February, India also made an immature attempt by imposing 200 percent custom duty on all Pakistani goods originating in or exported from Pakistan regardless bilateral trade largely in favour of India.
He said that imposition of custom duties by the Indian government couldn't hit much us but if the Pakistan government would impose the same style of duty on the Indian products then Indian exporters would be in serious trouble.
He said that Pakistan's CPEC and other investment projects are itself a pressure on Indian government, that's why they put blame on us time-to-time through Pulwama and Pathankot incidents because they want to isolate us economically.
Jawad said the MFN status is a treatment accorded to a trade partner to ensure non-discriminatory trade between two countries vis-à-vis other trade partners. The importance of MFN is highlighted in the first clause in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Under WTO rules, a member country cannot discriminate between its trade partners. "If a special status is granted to a trade partner, it must be extended to all members of the WTO. Unfortunately, we didn't see to establish proper trade relations from India in last years, despite Pakistan's private sector wanted on equal footing basis and taken up on numerous forums".
India granted MFN status to Pakistan in 1996 a year after the formation of WTO, but Pakistan didn't reciprocate the same status, however, the then Indian government required much in the year of 2009 & 10.
He said that till date trade was largely in favour of India. The total volume of India-Pakistan trade has increased marginally to $2.41 billion in 2017-18 as against $2.27 billion in 2016-17. In which Pakistan exports to India is only $480 million. He also condemned the immature Indian media statements that MBS may cut his visit to Pakistan due to Pulwama incident.
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