Review meeting on MFN status granted to Pakistan postponed

The meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to review the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status granted to Pakistan has been postponed till next week.

"The meeting regarding MFN and related logistics scheduled for Thursday is postponed to next week," official sources said here.

The decision to review the MFN, which was granted by India unilaterally in 1996, was taken in the wake of the Uri attack over which India is weighing options to respond.

The MFN status was accorded in 1996 under WTO'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 $641 billion in 2015-16, Pakistan accounted for a meagre $2.67 billion.

India's exports to the neighbouring country worked out to $2.17 billion, or 0.83 per cent, of the total Indian outward shipments while imports were less than $500 million, or 0.13 per cent, of the total inward shipments.