Afghan finance minister arrives to break impasse

ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan Finance Minister Omar Zakhilwal reached Islamabad on Saturday in a bid to break the deadlock on a new transit trade treaty. This is his second visit in less than 10 days and it seems he wants to take advantage of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s presence in Pakistan. She is expected to arrive on Sunday.

An official of Afghanistan embassy in Islamabad said the purpose of the finance minister’s visit is to push forward negotiations on the new Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement and his country is expecting a positive outcome at the end of the visit. The Afghan finance minister will hold talks with his Pakistani counterpart during his stay here.

Afghanistan Minister of Trade and Industries Anwar Ul Haq Ahadi had already been in Islamabad for the last couple of days. According to the US embassy, Hillary Clinton, during her two-day stay, will hold meetings with government high-ups on bilateral and regional issues and chair the ministerial-level strategic dialogue along with her counterpart, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

Last year, Pakistan and Afghanistan signed a memorandum of understanding in Washington to revisit the exiting transit trade treaty and ink a new one by December 2009. However, despite seven rounds of talks, the two sides failed to address their differences.

Kabul is asking Islamabad to allow it transit to the Wagha border to trade with India, a demand rejected outright by Pakistan, terming it against strategic interests.

Formal bilateral trade is $1.5 billion and the volume of Afghan Transit Trade through Pakistan is over $1 billion. However, informal or illegal trade is many times more than the formal one.

Diplomatic and government circles are attaching great significance to the Clinton’s presence, as they hope she may exert her influence to address Pakistan’s concerns.

Islamabad is of the view that trade with New Delhi does not fall under the purview of Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement. Experts also believe that opening of the Wagha border may create a regional trade hub and Pakistan could become a gateway to export of energy from Central Asia to the energy-starved India.

Earlier, the seventh round of talks held on July 6 and 7 remained inconclusive as both the states could not come on a common platform. However, in a joint communique, both sides agreed to continue the parleys to achieve an early agreement.

Afghanistan had refused to sign any deal without getting land route access to New Delhi through the Wagha border. It had also demanded transport of goods by using other mechanisms, instead of only relying on containers. Pakistan fears that transport of goods in open trucks will further fuel smuggling.

Pakistan has proposed levy of duty on Afghan-bound goods to discourage smuggling, but Kabul insists it is not responsible for smuggling in Pakistan.

An official said they may sign a deal by keeping the door open for talks on the issue of Wagha border for future.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2010.