Transit trade data: FBR team to confer with Afghan customs officials

A delegation of customs officials will visit Kabul to meet their counterpart for online reconciliation of transit trade data between the customs authorities of the two countries. According to an announcement of the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) on Saturday.
The delegation is not going to Afghanistan for probing "1,300 missing containers case", as the verification of most of the containers has already been completed. The FBR said that the discrepancy about missing containers emerged on account of the matching of data and changes of nomenclature following switch over from the conventional customs system of data management to the automation introduced in the Custom House, Karachi, as a part of overall tax reforms.
The containers, in fact, pertained to cargo meant for Afghanistan, transited through Pakistan, and not to cargo destined for upcountry dry ports as allegedly maintained in the news item.
As a result of extensive reconciliation, carried out by the FBR Directorate General (Investigation and Intelligence) on the directive of the Board, movement of 1,249 containers, bound for Afghanistan, has been satisfactorily reconciled. The reconciliation exercise for 111 consignments is still under way, which is likely to be completed soon.
At the same time, interim action had been taken to ensure smooth monitoring of the transit cargo, pending necessary corrective measures within the automated system that would be taken after due study of the entire mechanism, including the arrival of the cargo at the final destination in Afghanistan, the FBR said.
In view of the reconciliation and its results, the FBR's delegation for Afghanistan, which was meant to probe into the matter in consultation with Afghan customs, would now be focussing on possible online reconciliation of transit trade data between the customs authorities of the two countries from futuristic point of view, said the FBR.
The measure would enable the respective authorities to control and monitor the movement of transit cargo further effectively with the help of automation, consistent with the reforms undertaken by the FBR, said the board.