Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has said that no trade talks have been held between New Delhi and Islamabad since last year.
Responding to a reporter’s question at the Indian embassy in Washington, the top Indian diplomat said no proposal was floated from either side [India and Pakistan] to resume trade.
He pointed out that India never stopped trade with its neighbouring country. “Their [Pakistani] government took the step to stop trade in 2019.”
“Our concern was that they never granted us MFN [Most Favoured Nation] status, even though we granted it to them,” Jaishankar added.
“Every country has the sovereign right to decide about their international commitments and responsibilities. We can have our respective views on it,” he concluded.
Pakistan downgraded its ties with India after the Modi-led government unilaterally changed the special status of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) in August 2019 — the decision that Islamabad believed undermined the environment for holding talks between the neighbours.
Islamabad has linked its decision to normalising ties with New Delhi with restoring the special status of the IIOJK.
Despite the frosty ties, the two countries agreed to renew the 2003 ceasefire agreement along the Line of Control (LoC) in February 2021.
