Cannes, Nov 4(ANI): The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, today welcomed the Pakistan government's decision to grant 'Most Favoured Nation' (MFN) status to India.
"As one who is rightly or wrongly believed that the destiny of the countries of the South Asia are very closely linked, I welcome the decision of Pakistan to grant us the Most Favoured Nation treatment. It should have been done long ago, I think that it was nearly 17 years ago that India gave the Most Favoured Nation treatment to Pakistan unilaterally and Pakistan has taken so much time 'der aaye durust aaye'. I welcome that," Dr. Singh said while responding to a question on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Cannes, France.
"If it's a reflection of a new attitude that within the SAARC context our countries can work together to realize our growth potential to regional trade, regional capital flow, regional technology flow and there are so many things which we can do together and if this a reflection of a new change, a new mindset. I welcome that, but we have to watch," he added.
Earlier, on Wednesday, Pakistan's Cabinet unanimously decided to grant India the trade status, a major breakthrough that could bolster efforts to improve relations between the nuclear-armed rivals.
The MFN status for India comes in return for lifting non-tariff restrictions on imports from Pakistan.
The MFN status provides trade equality among partners by ensuring that an importing country will not discriminate against another country's goods in favour of those from a third. By Naveen Kapoor (ANI)
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