Pakistan has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to provide transit facilities to India for its trade with Afghanistan, Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim has said.
Formalities in this regard will be finalised through Pakistan to ensure that its national interests are protected, said Fahim, a top leader of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party.
The MoU was signed following a request from the Indian government to the effect that road and rail transit facilities should be provided for its trade with Afghanistan, Fahim told reporters here yesterday.
Till now Pakistan has been reluctant to allow New Delhi to use its land routes for trade with Kabul as many have claimed that such a facility would only benefit India.
The government is trying to gain access for Pakistani products to be marketed in the European Union (EU) and the US, he said. Negotiations with the EU are taking time because all member countries of the bloc had to be taken on board, he added.
