Vice President, All Pakistan Customs Agents Association (APCAA), Zia-ul-Haq Sarhadi has said that Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has issued directives for declaring Aza Khel Dry Port as Customs Station. In a statement issued here on Tuesday, he said that the early completion of Aza Khel Dry Port by Pakistan Railways can be utilized in a better way by the trading communities of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The step, he said can help re-shifting of the 70% Afghan transit trade to Pakistani sea ports, revival of 370 customs clearing agents and business of over 10,000 persons linked with the transit trade. Zia-ul-Haq Sarhadi, who is also the President of Frontier Customs Agents Group (FCAG) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has also demanded of the Prime Minister Imran Khan for taking practical steps for the promotion of bilateral trade with Afghanistan.
He said that for increasing the trade volume including bilateral trade relations requiring paradigm shift in the foreign and trade policies of the country. He said that both countries are anxious to increase the volume of their bilateral trade to US 5 billion dollars. He called for review of the strong conditions of Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) 2010 to enhance Pak-Afghan trade relations and abolition of Indian monopoly in Afghan market. Before the agreement, he said the volume of bilateral Pak-Afghan trade which was $2.4 billion had declined to merely $1.2 billion.