Pakistan and Afghanistan vow to boost trade ties

Pakistan and Afghanistan have vowed to further strengthen their bilateral economic relations.
This was decided in the third meeting of the Pak-Afghan Joint Ministerial Commission held on Sunday in Kabul. Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz led the Pakistan delegation while the Afghan delegation was led by Afghan Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani.
Shaukat informed the Afghan side that trade between the two countries was rapidly expanding as during the first six months of 2003-04 (July-December, 2003) it amounted to $360 million compared to $400 million during full 2002-03 year.
He noted that at this rate the level of bilateral trade would soon cross the $1 billion mark.
He pointed out a number of steps, which the government of Pakistan had taken to facilitate both Pak-Afghan trade and Afghan transit trade.
Pakistan has already reduced, by half, the list of 24 items, which were banned under the Afghan transit trade. Shaukat announced additional items, which would be excluded from the banned list. For the remainder items, he urged the Afghan side to strengthen customs arrangements and tariff regime so that further progress could be made.
Shaukat also outlined a number of measures, which were adopted by Pakistan to remove the irritants hampering the flow under the Afghan Transit Trade.
In this regard, he pointed out that a decision, in principle, has been taken to remove any discriminatory provision against ATT cargo.
Indeed, the Pakistan Government has given certain concessions such as extended storage of ATT cargo at KPT.
As an important step, Port Qasim has also been allowed to handle Afghan cargo, which was previously restricted to Karachi Port only.
The Finance Minister also pointed out that with a view to facilitating border trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Pakistan was ready to open additional customs posts.
In this respect, the Government has already notified Qilla Ghulam Khan, near the border with Khost, and is looking for establishing two additional points in future.
Shaukat Aziz also informed the Commission that Pakistan has already awarded the work for the rehabilitation of Torkham-Jalalabad Road and the work would commence in the first week of July.
The projects for building a new faculty block at Kabul and Jalalabad universities and establishment of a Kidney Centre at Jalalabad were ready from Pakistan side but awaited clearance from Afghan side.
On the technical assistance side, it was noted that facilities were being utilised by Afghan officials in banking courses while they will soon access the offers in the fields of customs, postal services and financial management.
The Afghan Finance Minister welcomed the steps taken by Pakistan and expressed satisfaction on the progress on JMC decisions.
He remarked that the increasing trade was reflective of stability returning to Afghanistan and that Pakistan was a natural trading partner of Afghanistan.
He said that pushing the trade level to $1 billion was not difficult as the scope of trade between the two countries was much larger.
He said that on his side three important decisions of last JMC were implemented as planned.
First, the PIA has already begun flying three flights from Islamabad to Kabul.
Second, licence has been given to National Bank of Pakistan which has already started functioning in Kabul. Permission for Habib Bank is now being given and the Bank will start its operation shortly.
Third, a new customs regime was designed and would shortly be put in place. This would help discourage smuggling, which has been a source of discomfort for both countries.
Ashraf Ghani appreciated the new measures adopted by the Government of Pakistan to remove the irritants in ATT. He also welcomed the opening of new points and assured that appropriate staff from Afghan side would also be deployed quickly on the Qilla Ghulam Khan point.
For the new points, he said, Afghan Government would study different points on Pak-Afghan border and make recommendations, depending on the flow of traffic.
The Pakistan side also informed the Commission that the feasibility study on the Chaman-Kandahar railway link was under preparation and preliminary survey of possible alignments was completed.
The technical feasibility will be ready by May 2004, after which Pakistan and Afghanistan would jointly explore its financing from different sources, both bilateral as well as multilateral.
Earlier, Shaukat Aziz was received by Afghan Finance Minister and Governor of Afghan Central Bank at Kabul Airport. from Pakistan delegation includes Governor State Bank, Secretary Economic Affairs, President, National Bank and senior officials from Ministries of Commerce, Railways, Communications and Central Board of Revenue.
Later, the Finance Minister called on Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul.
Economic Affairs Division Secretary Dr Waqar Masood told APP that they discussed matters of bilateral interests especially boosting the economic and trade ties between the two countries.
The finance minister also called on Afghanistan Vice President Amin Arsala and discussed matters of mutual interest.
He along with Governor of Sate Bank of Afghanistan also visited the National Bank of Pakistan in Kabul.
State Bank of Pakistan Governor Dr Ishrat Husain and NBP President Ali Raza were also present on the occasion.