Pak biz favour reciprocal trade ties with India: Commerce Min

He added that despite difficulties, India wanted to have a closer relationship with Pakistan

Businesses in Pakistan want their government to reciprocate to India through non-discriminatory trade regime, Minister of State for Commerce & Industry E M S Natchiappan said today.

"The feedback that we are getting is that the business people in Pakistan also want the same thing (extending MFN status/having non-discriminatory market access with India).

"They have to reciprocate with India also," he said after inaugurating the India Engineering Sourcing show here.

He said that despite difficulties, India wants to have a closer relationship with Pakistan.

In the last ministerial-level talks held earlier this month, the two countries had agreed to normalise their trade relations even if the exact nomenclature of the MFN is to be changed in the face of political opposition in Pakistan.

In order to enhance bilateral trade, India and Pakistan last week agreed on a non-discriminatory market access (NDMA) programme in place of the MFN regime, besides opening up Wagah-Attari border round the clock.

The ministerial meeting, which took place after a gap of 16 months, also deliberated on the need to relax visa regime and facilitate the entry of banks in each other's country.

The bilateral trade remains at a meagre $2 billion, while trade through third-countries is higher.