Afghan delegation due next week to discuss trade agreements

ISLAMABAD: A delegation from Afghanistan is scheduled to arrive in Pakistan next week to hold talks on the preferential and revised transit trade agreements and establishment joint border markets, ministry of commerce said on Monday.

Work on revision of the Afghanistan-Pakistan transit trade agreement (APTTA) is in final stages, while negotiation on preferential trade agreement is also underway, according to the commerce ministry.

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Razak Dawood held a consultative meeting at the ministry of commerce on matters relating to Pakistan’s trade with Afghanistan and the Central Asian Republics (CARs), the ministry said in a statement.

Dawood briefed the session on his meetings with the leadership of Afghanistan during his visit to the country last month which preceded the visit of the Prime Minister to Kabul.

Earlier, Afghan and Pakistani officials at the Pakistan-Afghanistan Trade and Investment Forum 2020 in Islamabad agreed to solve 16 out of 21 issues related to trade and transit between the two countries.

The adviser was informed that further to these visits, a lot of work has been done. Consultations have been started with all stakeholders to negotiate a preferential trade agreement with Afghanistan and work is continuing in this regard.

He was also informed that work on revision of the Afghanistan Pakistan transit trade agreement was in final stages. The adviser was further informed that a delegation from Afghanistan would visit Pakistan from 28 to 30 December to hold talks on the PTA, APTTA and establishment joint border markets.

Also as a follow-up to the visit of Sardor Umurzakov, the Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan for Investment in International Trade in September, Dawood also held video-conference with Umurzakov in the past week to discuss the progress made since his visit to Pakistan and ways and means to further increase Pakistan’s trade with Uzbekistan and CARs.

The adviser reiterated that Pakistan has always believed in free flow of goods between Pakistan, Afghanistan and the CARs. Umurzakov appreciated the sentiments and resolve expressed by Pakistan for improvement of trade relations.

He invited the adviser his team to visit Uzbekistan in January to have the inaugural meeting of joint working group on trade and economy in Tashkent which will examine the prospects of PTA between Pakistan and Uzbekistan.