-Says trade between Pakistan & Afghan will boost regional economic integration
By Asghar Ali Mubarak
ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce on Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood on Monday said boost in trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan would maximize chances of regional economic integration and enhance the connectivity among neighboring countries.
In recent trade dialogue, Pakistan and Afghanistan were mainly focusing on transit, bilateral and informal trade issues through the agenda of shared prosperity and peace, the Advisor said while addressing the opening session of 8th round of three-day Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) with Afghanistan’s Minister for Commerce and Industry, Nisar Ahmad Faizi Ghoryani was also present in the meeting.
While addressing the meeting, he said smooth transit trade for enhancing the connectivity with Central Asian States, Connecting regional trade with Gwadar Port, review finalization of APTTA and Preferential Trade Agreement with Afghanistan in coming February, 2021 is the main agenda of trade negotiation between both neighboring countries.
The Advisor said, “We have already allowed Afghanistan to use Gwadar for their transit trade as the same was demanded by the Central Asian States to connect them with Gwadar port in near future.” He said Pakistan has agreed to provide opportunities to Afghanistan trade items through Gwadar and Bin Qasim Ports in a good gesture to enhance the economic ties. He informed that Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) between Pakistan and Afghanistan would be finalized by the end of January next.
The Adviser hoped that the review agreement of APTTA would also be signed in coming months of 2021 and investment-related matters would be resolved in the recent bilateral dialogue between Pakistan and Afghanistan. He said in three days’ negotiation between the two countries, both sides would also discuss excess of Indian trade items through mutual borders. The Adviser also informed that due to Corona and other internal issues Pak- Afghan trade was on halt but now after the normalization, bilateral and transit trade was expected to achieve previous gains.
He said both sides would discuss to establish Economic Zones to enhance the bilateral investment and the trade opportunities. He said the Afghan President Ashraff Ghani and Prime Minister Imran Khan were encouraged to increase the bilateral trade and investment relation between both sides.
