Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan informed the Senate on Friday that in the first seven months of the financial year, exports to Afghanistan had touched the level of $ 500 million.
The minister said that during the previous financial year, total exports to Kabul were $350 million.
He said this while replying to a point of order by Awami National Party Senator Ilyas Bilour, who raised the issue of deletion of ghee and vegetable oil from the negative list of Afghan Transit Trade Agreement (ATTA).
The deletion, the minister explained, was made along with 13 other items of every day use under the ATTA on repeated requests by the President Hamid Karzai's government.
Humayun said that there was no restriction on export of these two commodities to Afghanistan. However, the ANP senator said that it would hurt exports.
The commerce minister clarified that the DTRE facility was withdrawn for two items, as it was being grossly misused by certain elements.
He said under the DTRE, duties and taxes-free raw material/inputs could be imported, which were used in the manufacturing of export goods.
Comments
Comments are closed.