Meeting discusses trade issues with Afghanistan

LANDIKOTAL: The Pak-Afghan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI) on Tuesday discussed various trade issues and mechanisms with Afghanistan.

Pak-Afghan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vice President Ziaul Haq Sarhadi chaired the meeting.

He informed the meeting about efforts of PAJCCI and its Chairman Zubair Motiwala and Co-Chairman Khan Jan for taking up the issues of the business community with the relevant authorities. Afghan business community members and traders also attended the meeting.

PAJCCI Secretary General Faiza shared the quarterly updates and recent movement in development of barter trade mechanism with Afghanistan. She said in the coming weeks final barter trade mechanism would be presented to both governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan for formal approval. Ziaul Haq Sarhadi said formation of a special purpose vehicle for the transaction management of barter trade was imperative.

He said PAJCCI would function as an oversight and monitoring entity along with dispute resolution and arbitration with the support of the both governments.

He said the State Bank of Pakistan had provided a written process for managing third party payments and bank counters at various border crossings which was being shared with all concerned quarters. The active role of the Afghan inter-ministerial committee was also highlighted in the meeting.