PAJCCI chief apprises Miftah, Naveed of bilateral, transit trade issues

KARACHI: Chairman Pakistan Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and industry (PAJCCI), Zubair Motiwala has recommended that sustainable trade policy is need of the hour which shall be developed with the support of business community and shall be above any political considerations.

Our trade volume has been reducing over the years from USD 15bn to USD 6bn and Pakistan is losing foreign exchange while trading with far flung countries with high cost of doing business.

Chairman & Co-Chairman PAJCCI met with Miftah Ismail, Federal Minister for Finance & Revenue and Naveed Qamar, Federal Minister for Commerce. Government of Pakistan executive management members of PAJCCI were also present at the occasion.

Zubair Motiwala apprised the ministers on the matters of bilateral and transit trade with Afghanistan and CAR. He shared the concerns, solutions and recommendations derived from the 10th Focus Group Discussion arranged by PAJCCI which was attended by Afghan business community delegation led by Khan Jan Alokozai, Co-Chairman PAJCCI.

Motiwala informed the ministers on trade barriers being faced by business community trading with Afghanistan via land routes and transit trade via Afghanistan to CAR. The issues range from third party payments, tariff rationalisation, increasing imports from Afghanistan, infrastructure development, sales tax and duty draw back claims hindrances, coal imports from Afghanistan, APTTA revival, unilateral decisions by either government resulting in hold ups at border crossings, increasing items in PKR trading category, cross stuffing and de-stuffing policy, TAD operationalisation, abolishment of negative list, formation of border bazaars and importance of continued engagement of the two governments.

He said that PAJCCI has been providing actionable insights and solutions to streamline the policy framework on all matters of economic importance specially to realize the actual potential of trade with Afghanistan.

Trading with Afghanistan is most viable due to time & cost efficiency and Afghan route to CAR is most effective for transit trade whereas Pakistan can easily offer sea port facilities to Afghanistan.

He proposed that APPTA amendments are critical to trade with Afghanistan due to change in global trading patterns and shift in product requirements by both countries.

Both the ministers appreciated the role of Zubair Motiwala in supporting government initiatives and personal involvement in uplifting of economy. They also appreciated the role of PAJCCI in providing technical assistance to both the governments and efforts in continued engagement on both sides of the border. They requested that PAJCCI prepares detailed document on issues, solutions and policy recommendations to increase the trade volume & revenue viz-a-viz Afghanistan and CAR.

Both ministers assured of their full cooperation in resolution of issues and instructed concerned officials to provide remedial measures. On APTTA revival which is pending due to non-recognition of current Afghan government, Minister of Commerce suggested to provide draft of amendments in existing APTTA. Both the ministries will jointly work on resolving the third-party payment matters which has been top demand of business community trading with Afghanistan.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022