Modi to meet top officials, review 'Most Favoured Nation' status to Pak
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called a meeting of top officials on Thursday to decide whether to withdraw the ‘Most Favoured Nation’ status granted to Pakistan.
The MFN status was accorded in 1996 under World Trade Organisation'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.
Taking a tough stand against Pakistan, Modi on Monday said ‘blood and water cannot flow together’ referring to the Indus Water Treaty between India and Pakistan. Modi consulted top officials on revoking the treaty, but the government later decided not to do so, instead opting to “exploit to the maximum” the water of Pakistan-controlled rivers-Indus, Chenab and Jhelum-flowing from India.
Last week, 18 Indian army personnel were killed in an ambush by Pakistan-based terrorists in Kashmir’s Uri. Following this, a war of words has broken out between the two countries at the United Nations. India has labeled Pakistan a terror state, saying it ‘attracts aspirants from all parts of the world’.
India has demanded that Pakistan shut down terror camps in its country, stating that the country is a dysfunctional state which attacks its own people.
