ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has removed restrictions on the import of 12 goods from India as part of measures to normalize trade between the two countries, Local media quoted Pakistani officials as saying on Monday.

Pakistan has long been reluctant to open up trade with its neighbor because of long-running political disputes. But both countries have been trying to boost their trade following a recent thaw in ties.

Pakistan said previously that it would grant India most favored nation (MFN) trade status that would help normalize trade by ending huge restriction. India gave MFN status to Pakistan in 1996.

Pakistan's Commerce Ministry recently requested the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), the top decision-making body on economic affairs, to increase the number of items that can be imported from India.

A ministry official said that the ECC approved the addition of 12 goods in the positive list of items that can be imported from India. Another official said the goods included machinery and raw materials for the leather and textile industries.

Despite having a combined population of more than a billion, Pakistan and India's official bilateral trade stood at $1.4 billion in Fiscal Year 2009-10 (July 2009 to June 2010) while an estimated $3 billion unofficial trade is routed through third countries in the Gulf.

Pakistan and India have fought three wars, two of them over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, since their independence in 1947 but their relations have improved since they resumed a dialogue in February that was derailed by an attack by Pakistan-based militants in the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh hailed progress in diplomatic ties and promised a "new chapter" in ties when they met on the sidelines of a regional summit in the Maldives recently.