ISLAMABAD, Dec 23 (APP): Minister of Commerce Engineer Dastgir Khan on Friday told the Senate that Pakistan being member of World Trade Organization (WTO) has extended Most Favored Nation (MFN) to all WTO member countries, except India and Israel.
Replying to a question here in Upper House he said, there are
a total of 164 members of WTO, adding, since 2006 fourteen new
members have joined it. Hence, he said, Pakistan has granted MFN status to 14 countries in the last ten years.
MFN status is granted by all the WTO member states at moment
of on accession, he said and added, therefore 14 new member states
to WTO have granted MFN status to Pakistan in the last 10 years.
Under the WTO agreements- General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade (GATT), General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the
Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
(TRIPS)-countries cannot normally discriminate between their trading
partners, he added. This principle, the minister said is known as most favored-nation (MFN) treatment.
The term means the country which is the recipient of
this treatment must receive equal advantages as the”most favored nation by the co-trade such treatment, he said.
Dastgir said, the purpose of granting MFN status to WTO
members is to bring uniformity and predictability to international
trade, and to remove barrier to trade through reduction of tariffs
and eliminating of discriminatory NTBs.
It also aimed at to provide level playing fields for foreign
producers at par with the local producers to ensure efficient
production for consumers, he added.
