PM Modi calls for meet to review 'Most Favoured Nation' status to Pakistan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for a review meeting of the 'Most Favoured Nation' status granted to Pakistan. The meeting will take place on September 29.

It is expected that officials from the Ministry of External Affairs and Commerce Ministry would attend the meeting.

Reports are rife that India is considering withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Pakistan in the wake of the Uri terror attack.

The MFN status was accorded in 1996 according to India's commitments as a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). According to the MFN principle of the WTO's General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) - to which India is a signatory/contracting party - each of the WTO member countries (including India and Pakistan in this case), should "treat all the other members equally as 'most-favoured' trading partners."

"Most Favoured Nation" (MFN) is a status or level of treatment accorded by one state to another in international trade.

According to the WTO, though the term 'MFN' suggests special treatment, it actually means non-discrimination.