The Ministry of Commerce (MoC) is seeking the business community's views on the proposals and recommendations for inclusion in the proposed new Pak-Afghan transit trade agreement (ATTA). A new trade agreement is being negotiated between Pakistan and Afghanistan under the auspices of World Bank.
Both the neighbouring countries are likely to stamp signatures on the new treaty by the end of the current calendar year. For the process of deliberations and consultations, the Ministry of Commerce also included three representatives of the private sector on a committee, constituted for this purpose.
The private sector representatives on the committee are Ghulam Sarwar Khan Mohmand, a former president of Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI); Zubair Motiwala of Karachi and the President of Quetta Chamber of Commerce and Industry (QCCI). The industrialists and traders of Pakistan have expressed reservations over the draft agreement prepared under the auspices of the World Bank.
The present Afghan transit trade agreement, signed in 1965, was totally one sided and goes in favour of Afghan traders. In this connection, a meeting of the committee has already been held at the Ministry of Commerce. Senior Joint Secretary and Director General of Foreign Trade at the ministry presided.
The participants of the meeting were given presentation on the draft agreement on trade with Afghanistan. Talking to Business Recorder, Ghulam Sarwar Khan Mohmand, representatives of the private sector on the body, demanded consultation with all the chambers and trader bodies before signing of the new Pak-Afghan transit trade agreement.
He expressed reservations over some clauses of the draft agreement, particularly those allowing Indian transport companies to transport goods through Wagah border and their passage through Pakistani territory and the transportation of Afghanistan-bound goods through Afghan trucks from Karachi seaport to Kabul. "The implementation of the clause would leave Pakistani transporters jobless," feared Mohmand.
During the meeting at the Ministry of Commerce, he said the business community had expressed concern over allowing both the Indian and Afghan drivers to travel inside Pakistan, both on both security and business grounds. The senior officials of the ministry, Sarwar Mohmand claimed had agreed in principle that Pakistan, arriving under the ATTA for Afghanistan, would be transported from Karachi to Torkham through the trucks of National Logistic Cell (NLC), Pakistan Railways and private Pakistan good carriers.
The private sector representatives said that the existing agreement favoured only Afghanistan and allowing all kind of goods. More than 90 percent of such goods used to re-enter Pakistan and sold in Bara markets established in different parts of the country. The representatives of private sector also stressed upon the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to keep strict check on the smuggling of these goods back into Pakistani territory.
The Bara markets in different parts of the country were flourishing at the cost of local trade and industry, they said. In the light of these realities, the business community said that instead of the existing one-sided trade treaty, a new bilateral trade agreement with Afghanistan should be signed. Like Pakistan, now Afghanistan would also be required to facilitate the passage of Pakistani goods to the Central Asian market.
Comments
Comments are closed.