PM Modi to chair meeting today to review MFN status to Pakistan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will today review the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Pakistan. The decision to review the MFN comes in the wake of the Uri attack over which India is weighing options to respond. The meeting may deliberate upon the option of dragging Pakistan to the World Trade Organisation's dispute settlement mechanism for not according similar status to India. 

Senior officials of the Ministry of External Affairs and Commerce Ministry will attend the meeting. Under MFN, a WTO member country is obliged to treat other trading nation in a



non-discriminatory manner, especially with regard to customs duty and other levies. India granted the MFN status to Pakistan in 1996 but Pakistan is yet to reciprocate to it. 

The neighbouring country has missed several deadlines for giving India this tag. The bilateral trade between the countries stood at 2.61 billion US Dollar in 2015-16. India's main exports to Pakistan include sugar, cotton, man-made filaments, chemicals, carpets, furniture fresh fruits and vegetables while its imports comprise mineral fuels, precious stones, wooden handicrafts among others.