ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastgir Khan on Wednesday said that the status of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) to any country would be given on a reciprocal basis.

Responding to a question, Khurram said no additional facility would be awarded to any country, including India, as far as the MFN status was concerned.

He added that Pakistan has been a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) since 1995, and all member states of the organisation had granted the MFN status to each other by virtue of their WTO status.

The minister further said that under the WTO regime, all member countries were required to grant the MFN status to each other, simply explained as non-discrimination in trade between the WTO countries.

According to the federal minister, the decision of awarding MFN status to India, if taken, would be a democratic one, and all the sensitive sectors of trade would be protected.

To another question, the minister said the problem Pakistan facing was that we had a limited export basket, which needed to be enhanced.

The commerce minister added that the government aimed to boost the export of other sectors. Furthermore, the government was also reforming the Trade Development Authority under this vision.

Replying to another question, Khurram said that Swati tobacco was an old locally-grown kind of tobacco amongst one of the Non Recommended Varieties (NRV) cultivated in plain areas of KP, including Mardan.

He said the farmers who cultivate NRVs of tobacco did not spend huge amounts on inputs like NPK, pesticides and low quantity of sucker-sides as compared to farmers cultivating the Recommended Varieties of the cash crop.

The minister said it was correct that all tobacco companies refused to purchase NRVs tobacco, including the Swati kind, due to its chemical composition.

He said there was a need to cultivate the recommended items if we wanted to promote this sector.

Legal status of affected Pakistanis in Saudi Arabia regularised:

Regarding the regularisation of the legal status of more than 950,000 Pakistani workers in Saudi Arabia, the federal minister added that this task has been a result of the efforts of the Pakistani Embassy in Riyadh and the Consulate in Jeddah.

To a question, the minister replied that the hard work of the government and the concerned embassy must be appreciated.

He said the prime minister took a keen interest in the issue and contacted the top-level members of the Saudi government in order to resolve the issue.

The commerce minister further said that the legal status of the affected workers was regularised either by changing their sponsorship or by changing of their professions on their Iqamas, in accordance with the amended labour laws.

He added that the embassy, despite restricted resources, had been able to regularise the highest number of foreign workers hailing from any one country, as compared to other major manpower-exporting countries in Saudi Arabia.

To another question regarding the Pakistanis detained in Saudi jails, the minister replied that all possible legal assistance would be provided to the detainees.