NEW DELHI: Top officials from Pakistan and India began talks on Monday to flesh out an agreement on opening up trade between the two countries.
Commerce Secretary Zafar Mahmood met his Indian counterpart Rahul Khullar at the start of the two-day talks in New Delhi aimed at implementing a deal to double annual trade in the next three years to $6 billion.The visit followed Pakistan’s decision on November 2 to grant “most favoured nation” (MFN) status to India.
“We have to fully normalise our relationship and you cannot fully normalise the trade relationship without invoking the MFN principle (and) so we will be working on that,” Mahmood told reporters after reaching New Delhi on Saturday.The prime ministers of the two countries met last week on the sidelines of a South Asian summit in the Maldives, saying they expected to open a “new chapter” in bilateral talks. – Brecoreder
