Pakistan has said it was unlikely that the process of granting India Most Favoured Nation status to boost bilateral trade would be completed before October.

The Pakistan government is working on the process of moving from a positive list to a negative list for trade with India and the Commerce Ministry is consulting all stakeholders regarding the move, Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit told a weekly news briefing.

"As far as MFN

is concerned, you all know that a decision has been taken in principle to move from the positive to a negative list in our trade with India," Basit said in response to a question.

"The work is in progress and the Ministry of Commerce is engaged in consultations with all stakeholders. A final decision in this regard will be taken by the Cabinet and I do not see that happening before October 2012," he said.

India and Pakistan agreed last year on a number of steps aimed at increasing bilateral trade from two billion dollars to six billion dollars in three years.