India and Pakistan are preparing for the biggest liberalisation in bilateral trade since partition more than six decades ago, reviving commercial ties that have been strangled ever since the end of British rule in 1947.
Senior officials on both sides of the border say Pakistan’s politicians and generals have softened their insistence that expanded business links with India be conditional upon resolution of a bitter territorial dispute over divided Kashmir.
Hina Rabbani Khar, Pakistan’s foreign minister, told the Financial Times that her government would press ahead with granting India “most favoured nation” status in a bid to break a longstanding deadlock in trade that has hurt both economies. Details are expected to be agreed at a meeting of commerce secretaries in Delhi next month.