Washington: Indian Foreign Minister Dr. Subramaniam Jaishankar announced on Wednesday that there have been no discussions on trade between India and Pakistan and no proposal to resume trade flows.
Delhi’s top diplomat made the comments while answering questions from reporters at the Indian embassy in Washington, where he had gone to attend the inauguration of US President Donald Trump on Monday.
In response to a question about trade with Pakistan, Jaishankar said: “After last year, there has been no discussion regarding trade with Pakistan, nor has there been any initiative from them.” “
He added on the situation between the neighbours: “We have never stopped trade. Whatever measures were taken to stop trade with India in 2019, they have taken it in 2019. Our concern started The reason was that they never gave us MFN (Most Favored Nation) status, even though we gave them that status.”
Pakistan, under the government of then Prime Minister Imran Khan, cut diplomatic ties with New Delhi and suspended all bilateral trade in August 2019, after India abrogated Article 370 of its constitution. The special status of Occupied Kashmir was revoked.
Last August, the Foreign Office (FO) said that trade with India had been suspended, citing the unchanged situation in Indian-administered Kashmir since the 2019 events that led to the initial suspension.
The then Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, while responding to a question regarding India’s non-retaliatory action, said, “The situation remains, and at present bilateral trade between Pakistan and India is There are no bilateral talks between the two countries.” On Pakistan’s steps to restore trade relations.
In March 2024, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said that relevant stakeholders would “seriously review” the trade situation with India as he highlighted the concerns of the business community.
