Washington: Addressing the status of India’s trade relations with Pakistan, External Affairs Minister (EAM), S. Jaishankar, has clarified that it was the Islamabad administration that decided to halt trading with New Delhi in 2019.He said in a press conference in Washington DC on Wednesday (local time) reiterating India’s longstanding concern regarding the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status, which India had extended to Pakistan but which the latter didn’t reciprocate.
“We did not stop trading. Their administration made the decision in 2019 to not continue trading with us,” Jaishankar said in the press statement.
“Our concern about this issue was from the beginning that we should get MFN status. We used to give this status to Pakistan but they did not give it to us,” the EAM added.
Noting that there have been no recent discussions or initiatives on trade from either side, he added,
“So, neither such talks have taken place with Pakistan regarding trade from our side, nor did they take any initiative from their side.”
Higlighting India-US ties, EAM Jaishankar said both nations have a “very strong degree” of trust and convergence.
“We have a very strong degree of trust today between India and the United States, a very high level of convergence of our interests,” he said.
He also noted that the two nations share a sense of global good and are committed to serving their national interests while building their bilateral partnership.
“A sense that while we serve our national interest, while we build our bilateral partnership, definitely on regional issues and global issues, there is a lot of good that we can do. So that sense of global good was also very evident conceptually in what we discussed.”
“In terms of the bilateral ties, this was the first day of the administration, so we had sort of essentially a broad brush conversation, didn’t get too deep into details, but there was an agreement, a consensus between us that we need to be bolder, bigger and more ambitious,” he added.
EAM Jaishankar represented India at US President Donald Trump’s inaugural function. He also carried a letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for President Donald Trump.
Trump took oath as the 47th US President on January 20.
(IANS)
