Pakistan to mend fences with India

Trucks and containers through India-Pakistan Wagah-Attari Border. (File photo)

Pakistani government is set to grant Most-Favored Nation (MFN) status to India with a condition of receiving substantial concessions in trade from New Delhi, a media report says.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will hold a special Cabinet meeting on Friday to discuss trade normalization with India, the daily Dawn newspaper reported on Tuesday.

This comes as the country's Commerce & Textile Industry Minister Khurram Dastagir Khan and some other officials are pushing hard for granting the status, now also referred to as Non-Discriminatory Market Access, to India.

The trade normalization process between the two neighbors started in 2011.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's agricultural group and textile and automobile industries fear India would flood their markets, rendering them jobless.

Senior Indian and Pakistani officials have recently held several rounds of fresh talks aimed at resolving long-standing disputes including the Kashmir issue.

Reports, however, say no major breakthroughs were made on controversial issues such as the Kashmir dispute and terrorism.

Nevertheless, the two countries agreed to ease a number of trade and travel restrictions in the interest of peace.

Dialogue between the two neighbors was brought to a standstill following the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008.

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Pakistan to mend fences with India