Minister of Commerce Engineer Dastgir Khan on Friday told the Senate that Pakistan, being member of World Trade Organisation (WTO), has extended Most Favoured Nation (MFN) to all WTO member countries, except India and Israel.
Replying to a question in the Upper House, he said that there were a total of 164 members of WTO, adding, since 2006 fourteen new members have joined it. Hence, he said that Pakistan has granted MFN status to 14 countries in the last ten years. The MFN status was granted by all the WTO member states at moment of on accession, he said and added that therefore 14 new member states to WTO have granted MFN status to Pakistan in the last 10 years.
Under the WTO agreements, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), the countries cannot normally discriminate between their trading partners, he added. This principle, the minister said was known as most favoured-nation (MFN) treatment.
The term meant the country which was the recipient of this treatment must receive equal advantages as the “most favoured nation, he said.