Steps underway to boost trade with Afghanistan: Pakistan

PESHAWAR (Pajhwok): Pakistan is trying to remove infrastructural and procedural hurdles in the way of trade with and investment in Afghanistan, a minister said on Monday.

Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan said Pakistan was looking at ways of enhancing trade volume with Afghanistan.Bilateral trade would be doubled in coming years, he hoped.

The minister made the remarks while addressing a roundtable on 'Pakistan-Afghanistan Cooperation on Trade', organised by Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) in Islamabad,.

He said the govement envisioned economic integration for maintaining peace and prosperity in the region. He called regional coectivity the key to fast economic development.

The govement was focused on boosting regional trade and that was also the vision of the economic and trade policies of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's govement, he added.

Also on Monday, the Punjab Board of Investment and Trade (PBIT), in collaboration with the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI), arranged a conference at in Lahore.

Punjab Minister for Industries Chaudhry Muhammad Shafiq was the chief guest on the occasion. Pakistan’s Ambassador to Afghanistan Syed Abrar Hussain also attended the event.

PAJCCI Chairman Muhammad Zubair Motiwala said: “If both official and unofficial trade volume is calculated, which currently is worth $5 billion, Afghanistan is the third largest trade partner of Pakistan.”

He stressed the need for exporting Pakistani automobiles, electronics, fuiture, pharmaceuticals and other goods to the neighbouring country. He also suggested setting up free trade zones in order areas to enhance trade.

mud