Afghan Transit Trade: Pakistani transport agencies to be involved, says minister

Pakistan Railways (PR), National Logistics Cell (NLC) and other private carriers would be involved in the transportation of Afghan transit consignments. This will be a source of revenue generation for these transporting agencies, Minister for Commerce Makhdom Amin Fahim said while replying to a written question in the National Assembly on Friday.
He said that the Afghan Transit Trade is a source of revenue for Pakistan in the shape of port charges for handling the transit goods. The Ministry of Commerce would only be responsible for making policies for the transit trade, Fahim said adding that Pakistan Railways, NLC and private sector transporters would earn revenue by transporting the transit goods.
He said that in the new Transit Agreement, Afghanistan has offered 17 transit routes to Pakistan to export our goods to Central Asian Republics (CARs).This would help Pakistan enhance its exports share in the CARs region, he added. The new Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA), 2010 was signed by both the countries on October 28, 2010 in Kabul.
In the new Agreement, Gwadar Port has also been included as an additional port of entry for Afghan transit goods besides Karachi Port and Port Qasim, he said adding that this will be an additional source of income for Pakistan and will create more employment opportunities. The Minister said that APTTA was to be implemented on February 12, 2011, however, during the first meeting of the Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Trade Co-ordination Authority (APTTCA) held on 11th and 12th February, 2011 in Islamabad, both the sides agreed to delay the implementation of the Agreement for a period of four months due to some pending issues.