WASHINGTON: Indian Foreign Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Wednesday that there have been no negotiations on trade between India and Pakistan, nor any proposals to resume trade flows.
Delhi’s top diplomat made the remarks while answering questions from reporters at the Indian embassy in Washington, where he had gone on Monday to attend the inauguration of US President Donald Trump.
In response to a question on trade with Pakistan, Jaishankar said, “After last year, there have been no trade talks with Pakistan, nor have any initiatives been put forward from their side. »
He added of the situation between the neighbors: “We never stopped trading. All the measures taken to stop trade with India were done on their side in 2019. Our concern from the beginning was that they never granted us MFN (most favored nation) status, even though we did. we granted them.
Pakistan, under the government of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, had downgraded diplomatic ties with New Delhi and suspended all bilateral trade in August 2019, when India revoked the special status of occupied Kashmir by abrogating Article 370 of its constitution.
Last August, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (FO) said trade with India was not an option, citing the unchanged situation in Indian-controlled Kashmir since the events of 2019 that led to the initial suspension.
“The situation remains intact and at this stage, there are no bilateral negotiations between the two countries regarding bilateral trade between Pakistan and India,” Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, then spokesperson of FO, had said in responding to a question regarding India’s lack of reciprocity. to Pakistan’s overtures to restore trade relations.
In March 2024, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar had said that relevant stakeholders would “seriously examine” the trade situation with India, while highlighting the concerns of the business community.
