New Delhi: India will review the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status given to Pakistan at a meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Thursday.
The decision to review the MFN, which was granted by India unilaterally in 1996, comes after the terror attack on an army camp at Uri in Kashmir.
The MFN status was accorded in 1996 under World Trade Organization (WTO)'s General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade. 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 Associated Chambers of Commerce of India, 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.
The Prime Minister on Monday chaired a review meeting of Indus Water's Treaty of 1960 during which it was decided that India will “exploit to the maximum” the water of Pakistan-controlled rivers, including Jhelum, in line with the water sharing pact.
Attended by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, the Water Resources Secretary, and senior Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) officials, the meeting also noted that the meeting of Indus Water Commission can “only take place in an atmosphere free of terror”.
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