NEW DELHI, June 14: A joint delegation of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and the SAARC Chamber had a meeting with the High Commissioner of Pakistan to India Salman Bashir in the backdrop of India again reminding to the country about its demand for grant of the Most Favoured Nation(MFN) status.
An official source said here yesterday that India was looking forward to Pakistan to fulfill its promise for MFN status.
The FICCI and SAARC Chambers during their meeting with Mr Bashir discussed bilateral economic and trade cooperation.
They noted the recent positive momentum in the relations and welcomed Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif’s vision of better relations with India.
“They hoped that under the newly elected Prime Minister’s leadership, the trade and economic relations between India and Pakistan would prosper,” the Pakistan High Commission said here.
Mr Bashir said his country wanted good neighbourly and mutually beneficial relations with India and underlined the priority accorded to this by Prime Minister Sharif.
The road map charted by the two Commerce Ministries would be worked, and pragmatic steps were required in this direction, he said.
The High Commissioner expressed the hope that the business community of the two countries would have productive interaction during the upcoming meetings including of the Joint Business Council in Islamabad, the Karachi Expo in September 2013 and the SAARC Trade Fair in India in October 2013.
The delegation, which met the Pakistan High Commissioner yesterday, included Secretary General FICCI Dr A Didar Singh, vice-president FICCI Dr Jyotsna Suri and President SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mr Vikramjit Singh Sahney.
Pakistan had earlier promised to give MFN status to India by December 31, 2012. Outgoing Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Sharat Sabharawal had rasied the MFGN issue on Tuesday at a farewell hosted by the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
India has already granted MFN status to Pakistan way back in 1996, but Pakistan has so far failed to implement its announcement as many are against to the idea in the neighbouring country.
(UNI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel