No talks with Pakistan on resumption of trade: Jaishankar

The then-Pakistan government headed by Imran Khan suspended all bilateral trade in August 2019 in retaliation to India abrogating Article 370 of its Constitution

Washington: There have been no talks with Pakistan on resumption of trade with India, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Wednesday.

“After last year, there have been no talks with Pakistan on trade, nor has any initiative come from their side,” Jaishankar said in response to a question at a news conference here.

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India, he said, never stopped trade with Pakistan, and the decision in this regard was taken by the Pakistan government in 2019.

“From the very beginning, our interest was that India should get the status of most favoured nation. We used to give MFN status to Pakistan. But they did not grant the same status to us,” Jaishankar said.

The then-Pakistan government headed by Imran Khan suspended all bilateral trade in August 2019 in retaliation to India abrogating Article 370 of its Constitution, which granted special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir. Islamabad had also downgraded its diplomatic ties with New Delhi.