islamabad new delhi pakistans newlyappointed finance minister hammad azhar on wednesday announced that the government has decided to allow import of sugar cotton and yarn from indiathe resumption of import of these items will lead to the countrys partial revival of trade relations with india in august 2019 pakistan had downgraded trade relations with india in reaction to new delhis decision to revoke article 370 of its constitution which granted jammu and kashmir special statusthere was no response from india to the development until late in the evening pakistans decision to import from india follows the february ceasefire agreement that had sparked speculation about possible efforts by both countries towards normalising ties however even as the indian and pakistani foreign ministers participated in a multilateral conference in tajikistan on tuesday there was no meeting between the twoto ensure there was no shortage of essential drugs amid the covid19 pandemic pakistan had lifted the ban on import of medicines and raw material from india in may 2020 this was the first step of reversing the complete suspension of trade with indiaprime minister imran khan who is also ministerincharge of commerce and textiles had approved the summaries of importing goods from india before placing it for approval of the economic coordination committee ecc of the cabinetaddressing a press conference in islamabad after chairing a meeting of the ecc the finance minister said the government had allowed the private sector to import 05 million tonnes of sugar from indiathe price of sugar is much lower in india as compared to pakistan so we have decided to reopen sugar trade with the neighbouring country for up to 05 million tonnes for the private sector the minister saidon allowing import of cotton from india azhar said there was high demand for it because pakistans textiles exports had increased but last years cotton crop was not good the price of the commodity in india is lower than what it is in pakistan the import of cotton and yarn through the wagah border will help meet domestic requirements at reasonable rates azhar said adding that import of cotton from india for small industries would take place until juneindia is the worlds biggest producer of cotton and the second biggest sugar producer the import of sugar will help pakistan lower its soaring prices ahead of the holy month of ramadan