Bilateral trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan is picking up at a good pace as it swelled 60% last week, said Saarc Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Iftikhar Ali Malik.
Talking to a delegation of exporters on Tuesday, he said that the trade volume would have increased further had the old infrastructure been replaced with modern facilities for shipment handling at all land border routes, including Torkham and Chaman, for accelerated clearance of goods.
While stressing the need to further strengthen the trade ties, Malik called for a fasttrack resolution of all issues, including the removal of nontariff barriers impeding the bilateral trade. “Pakistan’s annual exports to Afghanistan tumbled from $2 billion to $700 million in the last two years,” he pointed out.
Malik lamented that Pakistan used to export around 50,000 tonnes of cement and 100,000 tonnes of iron bars to Afghanistan, which has now decreased significantly, owing to unrealistic policies of the previous Afghan government.
“Pakistan’s exports to the neighbouring country went down by 5.5% from $790 million to $746 million during the first nine months of last fiscal year,” he said, adding that the situation “has changed now.”
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ