MFN status for India postponed: Nawaz

[Devil Soul]

MFN status for India postponed: Nawaz
APP and DAWN.COM
Updated 2014-03-24 19:18:42
HAGUE: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Monday that the granting of Most-Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India had been postponed.

Sharif also said that the government's committee to mediate with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan would visit North Waziristan tomorrow in order to hold direct talks with the Taliban leadership.

Speaking to mediapersons after holding a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry, during the sidelines of a two-day nuclear summit, Sharif said that the Kashmir issue should be resolved adding that India showed reluctance every time Pakistan raised the matter with it.

The premier also proposed an intervention by a third force over the issue and said that the matter could be resolved if a third force like the United States was involved.

The Prime Minister also admitted that decision to grant MFN status to India was postponed because of a lack of consensus. Sharif further said that he had directed his team to talk to all stakeholders and develop consensus on the matter.

“We also deferred this due to elections in India because we did not want to favor single political party in India”, the Prime Minister commented.

In 2012, Pakistan had committed itself to giving the MFN status to India after a strong persuasive note by the World Bank, and having done all the necessary spadework in this regard, opted to miss its own deadline of December 31, owing to domestic opposition andreciprocal response from New Delhi.

Talking about the mediation with the Taliban he said the government was holding talks with sincerity and the committee to hold talks on behalf of the government would visit North Waziristan tomorrow where direct talks would take place with the Taliban leadership.

Answering another question the prime minister said that peace in Afghanistan was the need of Pakistan and also welcomed the US move of halting drone strikes in Pakistani territory.

Earlier, Prime Minister Sharif met US Secretary of State John Kerry and both sides reaffirmed their desire to continue the strategic dialogue, covering a wide range of areas.

US Secretary of State said his country has great confidence in Pakistan's nuclear security and will continue to work with Pakistan in fighting terrorism.

In brief remarks to the press he also assured cooperation to Pakistan to help meet its energy needs.

John Kerry said the two countries were “deeply engaged” and said the two sides will focus on the issue of terrorism, counter terrorism, global energy besides Afghanistan and the bilateral Pakistan-United States relations.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said there were a lot of challenges for his government that came into power nine months back, however measures were afoot to address these.

He also mentioned his meeting with US President Barack Obama a few months ago in Washington DC and said the dialogue with the US will continue.

John Kerry mentioned his meeting in Washington with the Adviser to Prime Minister Sartaj Aziz recently and said he was looking forward to his meeting with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar soon.

The Prime Minister is accompanied by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister, Syed Tariq Fatemi and Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry.

— Mateen Haider also contributed to the reporting of this story

 

[IndoUS]

What I tell you, they can keep harping about it. But it's never happening.

 

[AugenBlick]

I don't want this full blown trade $hit. But in my opinion we should buy some pakistani Items like Cement, Coal(if any), Iron/Aluminium Ore and we can sell a few things like Auto parts and CKD kits. No need for banks/cellphones etc.

 

[Skull and Bones]

Even pendulum doesn't swing this much.

 

[That Guy]

What I tell you, they can keep harping about it. But it's never happening.

It's going to happen, Nawaz has no choice but to make it happen, otherwise he risks bankrupting the nation. It's going to happen this year, it's just very difficult to do so when you have idiots in the opposition trying to sabotage everything you do.

From what I understand, the full blown trade is already underway, all that needs to be done is to make it official, which is hard to do.

People are skeptical, I can understand why, but everything points to the status being granted this year. The IMF, World Bank to the US and Pakistani allies, they're all forcing the Pakistani government to get this over and done with. Believe me, it will happen.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

How many news stories have been posted here about the MFN status, hundreds surely.

Time to be decisive. Either do it or not, all this indecisiveness is not good for the business environment.

 

[AugenBlick]

It's going to happen, Nawaz has no choice but to make it happen, otherwise he risks bankrupting the nation. It's going to happen this year, it's just very difficult to do so when you have idiots in the opposition trying to sabotage everything you do.

From what I understand, the full blown trade is already underway, all that needs to be done is to make it official, which is hard to do.

People are skeptical, I can understand why, but everything points to the status being granted this year. The IMF, World Bank to the US and Pakistani allies, they're all forcing the Pakistani government to get this over and done with. Believe me, it will happen.

Well its not gonna happen until the new PM (probably Modi) comes up and reviews at least all the allowed/barred items. There is just too much distrust right now.
Also from my understanding India is allowing key Pakistani industries like textile to enter while key indian industries like Pharma / Auto are barred. Am I correct? If that is the case modi will certainly block it. He has a no nonsense approach and then even the US will not be able to persuade him.

 

[That Guy]

Well its not gonna happen until the new PM (probably Modi) comes up and reviews at least all the allowed/barred items. There is just too much distrust right now.
Also from my understanding India is allowing key Pakistani industries like textile to enter while key indian industries like Pharma / Auto are barred. Am I correct? If that is the case modi will certainly block it. He has a no nonsense approach and then even the US will not be able to persuade him.

Auto is blocked, but from what I understand pharma is allowed, but is being challenged by the pharma industry. Auto may be blocked, but then again, I don't know how well Indian auto industry would do in Pakistan, so it's not really a big loss (similar situation if pharma is blocked).

Pakistan needs to do this, because, one, it'll help the government to take control of Pakistani policy towards India from the military, and two, it's the only way to gain access to further bailout funds from the IMF. Nawaz understands this, which is why he's so insistent on getting this deal to pass through, even with the opposition trying to ruin this entire chance. I'm just hoping Modi is going to choose better relations, instead of populist nationalism.

 

[Skull and Bones]

Pakistan thinks this MFN status can be a bargaining chip against Indians, but given the size of their market, it seldom makes any difference to Indian business entities.

 

[SouthDesi]

How many news stories have been posted here about the MFN status, hundreds surely.

Time to be decisive. Either do it or not, all this indecisiveness is not good for the business environment.

It's common, nothing will happen. This drama will continue until some next major incident happens, either at LOC or some attack inside India. Then trade will not be a topic of discussion for few years.

 

[AugenBlick]

Auto is blocked, but from what I understand pharma is allowed, but is being challenged by the pharma industry. Auto may be blocked, but then again, I don't know how well Indian auto industry would do in Pakistan, so it's not really a big loss (similar situation if pharma is blocked).

Pakistan needs to do this, because, one, it'll help the government to take control of Pakistani policy towards India from the military, and two, it's the only way to gain access to further bailout funds from the IMF. Nawaz understands this, which is why he's so insistent on getting this deal to pass through, even with the opposition trying to ruin this entire chance. I'm just hoping Modi is going to choose better relations, instead of populist nationalism.

My friend he will go for neither. He is a pragmatist. Pakistan will have to sweeten the deal with either Auto or Pharma getting the same access as pak wants for textile. If it was congress, especially Manmohan, you had a chance as he was emotionally inclined to Pakistan. Now even if some fringe person points out that the deal favours pak too much, he will not allow it.
Your delay of about a year will cost you dearly. If you are still interested that is.

 

[my2cents]

It's going to happen, Nawaz has no choice but to make it happen, otherwise he risks bankrupting the nation. It's going to happen this year, it's just very difficult to do so when you have idiots in the opposition trying to sabotage everything you do.

From what I understand, the full blown trade is already underway, all that needs to be done is to make it official, which is hard to do.

People are skeptical, I can understand why, but everything points to the status being granted this year. The IMF, World Bank to the US and Pakistani allies, they're all forcing the Pakistani government to get this over and done with. Believe me, it will happen.

Initially MFN will be more beneficial to India than Pakistan because we have wider variety of products. It will bring costs down for your consumers in lower prices.

How are you going to convince your right-wing and hawks who are opposed to any benefits which will befall on India?

So, I am kind of doubtful that if you have done enough preparatory work and it will pass muster with your hawks. Now they are talking about NDMA(non discriminatory market access) instead of MFN.

 

[INDIC]

Postponed until eternity.

 

[Janmejay]

Good move becasue it will really hurt us because it will benefit enemy nation in the long run.

 

[That Guy]

Initially MFN will be more beneficial to India than Pakistan because we have wider variety of products. It will bring costs down for your consumers in lower prices.

How are you going to convince your right-wing and hawks who are opposed to any benefits which will befall on India?

So, I am kind of doubtful that if you have done enough preparatory work and it will pass muster with your hawks. Now they are talking about NDMA(non discriminatory market access) instead of MFN.

NDMA is literally the MFN, just with a different name. It's to lower political tensions and to sneakily give India MFN status, it's just that no one is out right saying it.

I think I should clarify, it's not just the conservatives that are opposed to the status (Nawaz is himself a conservative nationalist), it's also the liberals that oppose the status, because most liberals tend to be upper middle class, and have a vested interest to keep the status quo, because it's easier for them to profit from their monopolized businesses.

I think Nawaz is going trying to cement his legacy, because he realizes that achieving some sort of economic peace with India, and improving ties will set him up as a major historical figure in South Asia. He's (like most world leaders) in it for himself, but fortunately, that result will also benefit Pakistan.

How will this get passed? Convincing the smaller parties to join him. If he can get even one small opposition party (like JUI-F) to join him, he's won. I think the one party that may end up helping Nawaz is ironically PTI, a party that swore it would never support Nawaz in anything without a challenge.

My friend he will go for neither. He is a pragmatist. Pakistan will have to sweeten the deal with either Auto or Pharma getting the same access as pak wants for textile. If it was congress, especially Manmohan, you had a chance as he was emotionally inclined to Pakistan. Now even if some fringe person points out that the deal favours pak too much, he will not allow it.
Your delay of about a year will cost you dearly. If you are still interested that is.

We'll see, politicians are beasts of whim, you may say he won't, but something might change. Modi is a businessman, same with Nawaz, they will talk as such. I have always said that it is businessmen that will repair Pakistan's and India's relationship, not anyone else.