National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser on Thursday chaired a meeting of the Executive Committee of Pak-Afghan Friendship Group and the Task Force to discuss the issues and problems regarding the bilateral and transit trade through the border.
The meeting was attended by federal ministers Pervez Khattak, Syed Fakhar Imam and Ali Zaidi, Chief Whip Malik Amir Dogar, Adviser to the Prime Minister Arbab Shehzad and Razak Dawood, Special Envoy for Afghanistan Sadiq Khan, officials of the Customs department and the Balochistan chief secretary.
Addressing the meeting, the speaker said that trade with Afghanistan was the key to improving Pakistan’s economy, therefore, all obstacles to trade through the border must be removed. “Afghanistan has the highest demand for Pakistani products,” he said.
Qaiser told the participants that the Pak-Afghan Friendship Group and the Task Force had given serious consideration to resolving the issues at the Pak-Afghan border in the current situation, adding that the group had held several meetings to resolve those issues.
Arbab Shehzad told the meeting that there were still some problems at the border, adding that the government was taking steps to resolve them. Member National Assembly (MNA) Shandana Gulzar raised the issue of trackers installed in the containers.
Briefing the meeting, the foreign secretary said that Pak-Afghan transit trade was an important milestone in the bilateral relations. Special Envoy for Afghanistan assured the participants of the resolution of the problems at the Pak-Afghan border.
Dawood said that talks were under way to improve Afghan transit trade. He added that in this regard, he would soon visit Kabul. Defence Minister Pervez Khattak pointed out that numerous complaints had been received about issues at the Torkham border.
Customs officials assured the meeting of resolving visa and scanning issues within a week. The defence minister also asked the customs officials as to why fines were imposed on containers for customs error. He advised that steps should be taken to immediately remove the containers stranded on the borders.
The speaker revealed that Pakistan would host a seminar on trade with Afghanistan in October, and an Afghan parliamentary delegation would be invited to attend. Officials from trade, defence, food, interior and foreign ministries will also be invited to attend the seminar, he added.
In this regard, the speaker said, “I have personally spoken to the chairman of the Volosi Jirga of Afghanistan.” He added that that all aspects of the Pak-Afghan trade would be considered in the seminar. Qaiser told the meeting that a new Afghan transit trade agreement would be signed.
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