In the wake of tension between Indian and Pakistan, Minister Commerce Makhdoom Ameen Fahim has called off a scheduled visit to India to attend a business conference on direction of Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, media quoting officials said on Monday.
According to reports quoting officials in commerce ministry in Islamabad, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf was in the loop about the decision to call off Mr. Fahim’s visit. Officials said Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf directed the minister not to visit India in current tense situation between two countries as Pakistani players and artists have been threatened and expelled from India.
The decision was linked to the spike in tensions between India and Pakistan over a string of clashes along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir that left three Pakistani soldiers dead, while India claimed that two of its soldiers were killed.
Fahim and Secretary Commerce Munir Qureshi were scheduled to visit India during January 27-29 to participate in a Partnership Summit being organised in Agra.
Ameen Fahim was invited to the meet by his Indian counterpart Anand Sharma. In recent weeks, differences had emerged between Fahim and Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar over the issue of giving Most Favoured Nation-status to India.
Media reports have said that Khar had held Fahim responsible for the delay in giving MFN-status to India.
Pakistan missed the December 31 deadline for phasing out a negative list regime for trade and giving MFN-status to India.
Ameen Fahim subsequently said the process had been delayed.
Bilateral trade to mutually
benefit India, Pak: Baig
Advisor to Prime Minister on Textile Mirza Ikhtiar Baig has said that the bilateral trade between Pakistan and India would be mutually beneficial, therefore the two countries were focusing on steps to increase its volume. Talking to Pakistan television, he said that the trade between India and Pakistan would be enhanced in future, which would be a win-win situation for both the countries. He said that efforts were being made to improve the trade with regional countries and the South Asia was the best place for investment purpose. He said, “We have the best example of regional block like SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Association) and European Union (EU), which are considered the strong economic blocks to boost each other’s economies through mutual free trade facilities”. He said that regional trade would be successful with China and India being the big trade partners. Replying to a question, he said that the tense Pak-India relations should not affect the trade between the two countries.