US hails Pakistan move to normalize trade with India
‘We don’t yet have most-favoured nation status,’ US
spokeswoman jokes:
US: The United States on Thursday hailed a move by Pakistan toward
normalizing trade relations with India, saying it is a “very, very big
deal” that could open up great economic opportunities.
Pakistani Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan said in Islamabad
on Wednesday that the federal cabinet had unanimously approved India as
a most-favored nation (MFN).
However, US officials said they understood that the Pakistani cabinet
had approved a negotiated path to reach MFN, a move they still described
as a major development.
“We don’t yet have most-favored nation status,” State Department
spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.
“We have a decision unanimously approved by the Pakistani cabinet to
open a path for full normalization of trade relations with India” as the
commerce ministers of both countries agreed in Delhi in September,
Nuland said.
“This is a very, very big deal, very important, could lead to really
great economic opportunities for both India and Pakistan,” Nuland said.
It “sets the kind of example” that other countries in South and
Central Asia should follow toward building an integrated regional
economy that Washington has pushed under its “New Silk Road” project,
she said. Washington has sought to put Afghanistan at the center of such
a project in a bid to ensure the war-torn nation becomes peaceful and
prosperous in the long term.
“We would like to see the opening of trade relations because this
will bring prosperity to everybody, break down old barriers,” Nuland
said.
“We really applaud Pakistan and India for taking this concrete step
to improve their relations. It’s the most tangible thing that they’ve
done yet,” she said.
“And our hope is that the process of normalization in both
directions, including getting eventually to full MFN, continues and that
there is a reduction in non-tariff barriers by India,” she added. The
United States has long sought to defuse tensions between India and
Pakistan, both nuclear armed nations that have fought three wars since
independence from Britain in 1947. AFP |