New Delhi: India on September 14 asked Pakistan to give it the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status and remove all non-tariff barriers while assuring that New Delhi was ready to remove any Pakistan-specific barriers to trade.

In his inaugural address at the launch of India-Pakistan CEOs' Business Forum, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha said, "There is a perception that India maintains certain non-tariff barriers (against Pakistan). Let me declare in unambiguous terms that if there are any Pakistan-specific restrictions, the Government of India will strive to remove them."

"Naturally, it is our hope that Pakistan will also sooner rather than later give India the MFN treatment and remove all non-tariff barriers," Sinha added.

Pointing out that the need for greater economic interaction between the two countries was self-evident, Sinha wanted to know if $ 2 billion worth of trade can happen when "politics has been working against trade, what would be the picture when politics and trade became aligned"?

According to official figures, trade between India and Pakistan is currently around $ 200-250 million. This is about one-fourth of trade between India and other countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Estimated actual trade, when that through third countries is also taken into account, is pegged at $ 2 billion.

PTI