Afghan Transit Trade Agreement: talks in progress for making amendments

The bilateral negotiations between Pakistan and Afghanistan for making amendments in Afghan Transit Trade Agreement (ATTA) are in progress. Secretary Commerce Suleman Ghani said this, while talking media personnel after a meeting of the Standing Committee on Commerce held at the Parliament House the other day.
The Secretary revealed that the purpose of reviewing ATTA is that Pakistan wants to get the transit right for its transporters to move into Afghanistan as well as Central Asian States to expand its export market. On the occasion he also clarified that the draft agreement did not carry any provision relating to grant of transit facility to India for their exports to Afghanistan.
"There is no question of granting transit facility to India in ATTA. The statement of Federal Minister for Commerce had been misquoted in the section of the press that 'MoU has been signed with India to give her transit facility."
The Secretary further said that the third round of Pak-Afghan dialogue has been delayed, which was to be held in October, on the request of Afghan government due to its ongoing election process. He further said that Afghan government had proposed that the dialogues should be resumed in November instead of October till the formation of the new Afghan government.
"Both the countries want to improve Afghan Transit Trade Agreement (ATTA) that was signed in 1965; however, the first two rounds ended in a deadlock when the Pakistani side started expressing concerns over the smuggling of the goods imported through the ATTA back into Pakistan and, moreover, the Afghan side had demanded access to Pakistani highways for its transporters," he said. The Secretary Commerce said that those sectors, which have serious concerns over the smuggling of items from Afghanistan, would be able to talk directly with the Afghan authorities.
"Many sectors including the tea importers, tyres manufacturers and importers, cosmetic industry and even the IT sector have expressed dissent over smuggling from Afghanistan," he said. He added that many items like black tea were not consumed in Afghanistan, but it was imported in huge quantities there, as a result the cheap duty free tea was smuggled into Pakistan.