The government is considering imposing a special tax on Nato containers carrying goods to Afghanistan, said Dr Arbab Alamgir Khan Federal Minister for Communications on Thursday. Addressing a press conference, he said that Pakistan's roads and infrastructure had already suffered a damage of Rs 100 billion. "No decision has yet been made in this regard. However, we are seriously considering imposing the special tax on Nato containers," he added.
The minister announced that members of Economic Co-operation Organisation (ECO) had agreed to create Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul trade corridor, which would enable Pakistan to export its goods to Turkey without any impediment. The ECO countries also agreed, in principle, to issue a card by the end of the year on the pattern of European Green Card in insurance sector, which would provide equal insurance facilities to transporters in the region. The trade corridor would be expanded to European countries in the second phase, while in the second phase, the trade corridor would link Pakistan with Central Asian states through the Lowari Tunnel.
He said that International Road Transport Union had offered its services for capacity building of Pakistan's transport sector and Turkey had also promised co-operation. He said that ECO countries had agreed to simplify and upgrade the customs system at border posts, adding that there was a proposal to introduce an ECO visa for drivers and transporters of the region.
Alamgir said that the fifth meeting of the ECO Transit Transport Co-ordination Council (TTCC), being held in Islamabad, would give a boost to efforts made for brining the ECO countries closer. He said that the ECO region had a population of around 400 million and a combined GDP of around $6,000 billion.
The federal minister said that in the modern world no country could maintain a favourable balance of trade without the help of maritime facilities and Pakistan was fully cognisant of difficulties of landlocked ECO states. Therefore, it had extended transit trade facilities to these states through its warm water seaports. However, he said, the benefits of that facility could not be optimised without an efficient road and rail network. For that reason Pakistan had conceived the National Trade Corridor (NTC) and entrusted the responsibility to the Ministry of Communications to construct a network of highways and motorways of international standard.
He said that the establishment of the road corridor would facilitate implementation of the Transit Transport Framework Agreement (TTFA); an agreement signed a decade ago to facilitate trade and transport among the 10-member Economic Co-operation Organisation. The successful launch of Truck Caravan from Pakistan in 2010 has further strengthened the belief that now there is a need to start regular operations of goods and passengers movement within the ECO region, he added.
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