Jaishankar says 'no trade talks' have been held between India & Pakistan since last year

External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar confirmed on Wednesday that there had been no trade talks between India and Pakistan. He made it clear that no proposal to resume the flow of commerce has been floated between the two nations. The remarks from the Indian foreign minister came while he was fielding questions from reporters at the Indian embassy in Washington.

Jaishankar is currently in the United States where he attended the inauguration ceremony of 47th US President Donald Trump. “After last year, there have been no talks with Pakistan about trade, nor has any initiative come forward from their side," Jaishankar responded when asked bout the trade relations between India and Pakistan.

“We never stopped trade. Any steps taken to stop trade with India were taken from their side in 2019. Our concern from the beginning was that they never granted us MFN (Most Favoured Nation) status, even though we granted it to them."

“Every country has the sovereign right to take its decisions..about what are their international commitments and responsibilities. We can have our respective views on it,” he concluded.

Where does the trade relations between India and Pakistan stand?

It is pertinent to note that Pakistan under the government of then-Prime Minister Imran Khan, downgraded its diplomatic ties with India in August 2019. Islamabad broke off trade ties after the abrogation of Article 370 in India, which gave special status to Kashmir.

Last August, the Foreign Office (FO) had said trade with India was not on the cards, citing the unchanged situation in Kashmir, Dawn reported. “The situation remains intact, and at this point, there are no bilateral talks between the two countries concerning bilateral trade between Pakistan and India,” then-FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said at that time.

Meanwhile, in March 2024, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said that relevant stakeholders will be “seriously examined” in regard to re-establishing trade ties with India. Dar noted that the soured trade ties are affected in the business community in Pakistan. In the past, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government have expressed willingness to re-evaluate trade ties with India. With Jaishankar’s recent assertion, it is clear that both countries are far from mending trade ties.