ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister of Pakistan for Commerce andInvestment, Abdul Razak Dawood has said that the government had set atarget of $5 billion in exports to Afghanistan in the next three years.
“Pak-Afghanistan trade has three dimensions including transit trade,bilateral trade and informal trade, which not only needs to be documentedbut also modernised with infrastructure for smooth functioning,” the PM’sadvisor on commerce told APP.
Replying to a question, he informed that in 2019, informal trade betweenPakistan and Afghanistan was $ 2billion whereas both sides have moreprospects to enhance the bilateral trade volume.
He said that the government had prioritised to document bilateral tradebetween the two countries to evolve a data sharing mechanism between bothsides for ensuring transparency.
The advisor said that there was a need to improve trade facilitationthrough streamlined payments settlement and improved insurance mechanisms,use of bonded carriers, visa issuance, trade financing, tax collection, anddocumentation.
“Specifically, there must be an internationally acceptable mode ofpayments,” he added.
Razak Dawood said that trade could further strengthen relations betweenboth sides and achieve the agenda of benefiting in areas of mutual interest.
He said that Pakistan and Afghanistan are not only neighbouring countriesbut also “have a shared religion, culture values and commonalities forincreasing economic and people to people connectivity.”
“Pakistan also shares a 2,200km long border with Afghanistan, which canplay a vital role to increase economic interdependence and ties in bothsides,” he added.
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The advisor also expressed his wish to visit Afghanistan to join theAfghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Coordination Authority (APTTCA) meetingto work over future trade prospects and opportunities.
Razak Dawood said that both sides are committed to reducing the cost ofdoing business to enhance the bilateral trade volumebetween Pakistan and Afghanistan.
He said that Pakistan needs to focus on infrastructure issues, temporaryvehicle and driver admission policy, access to third countries and alsoimproved processing at border posts for reducing the cost of business toincrease bilateral trade volume between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Replying to another question, he said that Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement(APTTA) would be reviewed in February 2021 while both sides are negotiatingwith different stakeholders to finalise the agreement.
“Both countries are in discussions to remove barriers and promote freetrade between each other,” he said, adding that solid recommendations werefloated at the recent trade and interment forum held in Islamabad in thisregard.
Further, parliamentarians, business community members, experts and relevantministries of both sides highlighted important issues and proposedsolutions to the problems being faced by the business community on bothsides.
He said that trade-friendly and anti-smuggling legislation should beintroduced to reduce the informal economy for the benefit of both countries.
