Pakistan, Afghanistan to promote investment

To facilitate commerce besides discussing trade deal

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Afghanistan on Thursday agreed to further strengthen bilateral trade and economic relations by addressing bottlenecks and promoting investments.

They also agreed to facilitate the trade and commerce sectors besides starting negotiations on the preferential trade agreement (PTA) and trilateral trade agreement for the benefit of people.

The consensus was developed in a meeting of the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Coordination Authority (APTTCA), co-chaired by Commerce Secretary Shahzad Arbab and Afghanistan’s Acting Minister of Trade and Commerce Muzammil Shinwari.

Welcoming the Afghan delegation, Arbab said Pakistan attributed high priority to trade and economic relations with Afghanistan. He said Pakistan was the largest trading partner of Afghanistan and bilateral trade crossed $2 billion in 2014, which would be further enhanced during the days to come.

Both the countries had signed APTTCA under which economic relations flourished and it was expected that trade and investment opportunities would further grow by removing the hurdles, he remarked.

Arbab added that in order to address the challenges, the Federal Board of Revenue had suggested electronic data sharing as well as a web box, besides providing training to Afghan officials.

It is expected that the outcome of the two-day meeting will enable both sides to facilitate the businessmen for the promotion of trade.

Addressing the meeting, Ambassador of Afghanistan Janan Musa underlined the need for starting an economic strategic dialogue to develop political and economic confidence between the two countries. 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 2^nd,  2015.

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