India, Pak agree to double trade in 3 yrs

India and Pakistan on Wednesday agreed to more than double bilateral trade within three years, from current levels of $2.7 billion to $6 billion amid signs that Islamabad may be softening its stand on the protracted issue of denying its neighbour a most-favoured nation (MFN) status.

India and Pakistan on Wednesday agreed to more than double bilateral trade within three years, from current levels of $2.7 billion to $6 billion amid signs that Islamabad may be softening its stand on the protracted issue of denying its neighbour a most-favoured nation (MFN) status.

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"The ministers mandated their commerce secretaries to pursue with vigour the task of fully normalising bilateral trade relations. They agreed that their countries would cooperate for a high ambition of preferential trade relations under the framework of the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA)," a joint-statement said at the end of bilateral discussions between commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma and commerce and Pakistan's trade minister Makhdoom Amin Faheem on Wednesday.

Pakistan remains the only country in South Asia to deny India a MFN status violating World Trade Organisation (WTO) norms and holding up the SAFTA from being operationalised.