Pak-Afghan trade may rise with multiple-entry visas

Afghanistan is viewed as an untapped market for Pakistani products

KARACHI: The Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI) has welcomed Kabul’s decision to grant one-year multiple-entry visas to Pakistani business people, which it says will deepen trade and bilateral relationship.

“Afghanistan has accepted one of our most important demands,” PAJCCI Founder-Chairman Zubair Motiwala was quoted as saying in a press release on Wednesday.



Speaking at the launching ceremony of the ‘4th Made in Pakistan Exhibition’ in Kabul, organised by the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he pointed out that visas had always been a high priority for the PAJCCI and the matter was also raised at the 10th Joint Economic Commission meeting in November this year.

Regarding the exhibition, Motiwala stressed all chambers should support such initiatives as Afghanistan was still an untapped market for Pakistani products. He asked business representatives to visit Afghanistan and also help bridge the trust deficit, especially in youth of the war-stricken country.

At present, official trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan stands at $2.5 billion with parallel undocumented trade is also estimated to be at the same level. However, there is a potential for more than $10 billion worth of trade if policies are framed according to the needs of both countries.

Motiwala urged the Trade Development Authority to facilitate exhibitions, conferences and delegations as part of confidence-building measures through which illegal trade could be brought into the mainstream commerce.

He called for undertaking fiscal reforms, rationalising tariffs and establishing export houses for the business and trading community, which would eliminate issues related to quality specifications, trust deficit, insurance and payments and will build confidence of both sides.



PAJCCI will hold its annual conference and business-to-business meetings in Kabul in the first half of January 2016. This will be followed by an investment conference in Dubai in the first quarter of next year.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2015.

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