Pakistan

Pak-Afghan trade halves ‘due to transit trade glitches’

Ex-minister says trade has come down to $1.8b from $2.5b in 2010

Tahir Khan October 24, 2016

Transit trucks stranded due to the border skirmishes between Pakistan and Afghanistan are parked on the side of the road leading to the border in Torkham, Pakistan June 16, 2016. PHOTO: REUTERS

ISLAMABAD: Former deputy trade minister of Afghanistan Muzamil Shinwari has said that bilateral trade with Pakistan has gone down substantially due to ‘problems’ in transit trade. “If these problems are not addressed, bilateral trade could witness further decline,” warned Shinwari, who was the chief negotiator for the 2010 Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA).

“The Pak-Afghan trade volume was $2.5 billion in 2010 which has now come down to $1.8 billion,” Shinwari told The Express Tribune in an interview. He was in Pakistan to attend a two-day unofficial dialogue between MPs, politicians, ex-servicemen, civil society members and media persons.

Open Wagah or lose transit route, Ghani warns Pakistan

“There could be further decrease in bilateral trade if transit trade through Pakistan is not facilitated,” he said. Pakistani officials would earlier say that Afghanistan imports nearly 60% of items from Pakistan; however, diplomatic tension has badly affected trade relations.

“If the transit trade is affected, it would have a direct impact on bilateral trade as both are inter-linked,” Shinwari argued. “Afghan traders, involved in transit trade, used to buy goods in markets in Karachi, Lahore, and Faisalabad. But now they would divert to Iran where they can buy goods in Zahidan, Mashhad and Tehran,” he said.

Shinwari claimed that Pakistan had agreed during the APTTA negotiations in Islamabad to allow Afghanistan use the Wagah border with India in the presence of then US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, and former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.

Afghanistan losing interest in trade links with Pakistan

“Pakistan had sought time for the implementation of the agreement but assured us that Afghanistan would start imports from India via Wagah in the near future, which never happened,” Shinwari said. “We allow Pakistani goods to be transported via Afghanistan to Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and even Russia and Europe. If Pakistani goods are exported to Central Asia, Afghanistan has the right to use Pakistan’s territory for trade with South Asia,” he insisted.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2016.