APTTA criticised

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has claimed that the Afghan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) will have devastating effects on the infrastructure of Pakistan. It urged the government to take all stakeholders into confidence before finalising the agreement, including the various chambers.

The president of ICCI, Zahid Maqbool, said that Afghan containers and trucks usually carried heavy loads and allowing them direct access to the Wagah border would result in the destruction of the country’s roads and motorways.

The president of the chamber claimed that while Afghanistan had imposed an 18 per cent duty on the import of Pakistani products, Indian goods were being imported at zero per cent duty. He demanded that the government ask Afghanistan for similar concessions on Pakistani goods.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 24th, 2010.