Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Commerce & Industry

25-April-2012 12:43 IST

The decision taken in the cabinet meeting of Pakistan, communicated through the Press Release of Pakistan Government dated 2nd November 2011, is that “the (Pakistan) Cabinet gave Ministry of Commerce the mandate to take the process of normalization forward, which would culminate in the observance of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) principle in its true spirit”.

The Government of Pakistan has changed its approach from ‘Positive List’ of 1963 items to Negative List of 1209 items through the notification S.R.O No. 280(I) /2012 dated 20.3.2012 for import of goods from India. This Negative List is expected to be phased out by Government of Pakistan before the end of 2012. The understanding is that when the transition to MFN is effected, all items other than those in the SAFTA sensitive list would get preferential access at peak tariff levels of 5% by the end of 2012.

The annual bilateral trade figure between India and Pakistan during 2010-11 was US $ 2666.13 million. In the Joint Statement issued during the Commerce Minister of Pakistan visit to India in September 2011, it was stated that both India and Pakistan agreed to jointly work to more than double bilateral trade within three years, from current levels of 2.7 Billion US dollars per annum to about 6 Billion dollars.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

DS/GK

Most Favoured Nation status: Pakistan shifted to a negative list and announced phase-out to expand preferential market access. Pakistan shifted from a Positive List to a Negative List for imports from India via S.R.O No. 280(I)/2012 and announced a planned phase-out of that Negative List within the year, whereby items outside the SAFTA sensitive list would obtain preferential access at a capped peak tariff level under the transition to Most Favoured Nation treatment.