Pakistan and Afghanistan on Tuesday agreed to remove impediments hampering bilateral and transit trade and holding of Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Coordination Authority pending since long after Kabul put a condition to include India in the APTTA.
This consensus was evolved at a high-ranking ministerial delegation from Afghanistan led by Deputy Minister for Commerce H.E. Kamila Sidiqi who held a meeting with Younus Dagha, Secretary Commerce and officials of the ministry. Fazal Abbas Maken, Secretary, National Food Security and Research and officials of Ministry of National Food Security and Research, Federal Board of Revenue and Foreign Office were also present during the meeting.
Afghan delegation also included Hamdullah Hamdard, Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock, Mir Saeed Saeedy, Director General, International Trade, Ministry of Commerce, Khan Jan Alakozai, Head of Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Najibullah Wardak, Deputy Director, Income, Ministry of Finance, Ahmed Shakir Qarar, Deputy Director, First Political Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Edrees Rauf, Cotton Specialist, Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock and Embassy officials.
In December 2017, Afghanistan had refused to start negotiations with Pakistan at the forum of Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Co-ordination Authority (APTTCA), discrediting its own Ambassador Omar Zakhilwal who had conveyed Kabul's consent to convene a meeting of the committee to resolve bilateral trade issues.
Pakistan's exports to Afghanistan in 2010 were $2.7 billion while Iran's exports to Afghanistan were a mere $170 million. However in 2016, Pakistani exports had shrunk to $1.2 billion whereas Iranian exports increased to $2.5 billion.
During the meeting, both sides expressed the desire to enhance trade relations by overcoming existing challenges.
The discussion largely hinged on the SPS/quarantine certification and removal of regulatory duties on selected items like fresh fruits and vegetables, dry fruit, etc. to facilitate Afghanistan's exports to Pakistan as announced by the Prime Minister of Pakistan during his recent visit to Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is unhappy with Pakistan for imposition of regulatory duty on its products, especially fresh and dry fruits. Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan made all-out efforts to get it removed by using the arm of Ministry of Foreign Affairs without taking Commerce Ministry on board but the Prime Minister rejected the proposal after seeking comments from the Commerce Ministry.
Deployment of Department of Plant Protection personnel on various border crossings was also discussed and the Secretary, Ministry of National Food Security and Research informed the Afghan side that the personnel have been deployed at Chaman and Torkham initially and other border crossings will also be facilitated in due course.
Both sides agreed that the institutional mechanism between both the countries needs to be strengthened and the holding of the much awaited 7thAfghanistan Pakistan Transit Trade Coordination Authority meeting was the need of the hour.
"It was resolved that all-out efforts would be made to remove impediments hampering bilateral and transit trade", the official statement added.
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