Afghanistan-Pakistan Trade Barriers removed, exports to potentially double in the coming year

On Wednesday, the Afghan Ministry of Industry and Commerce stated that "all barriers" hampering trade relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan has been resolved over the past few weeks.

As reported by TOLO News, Afghan officials have expressed hope that with the removal of these obstructions, Afghanistan's exports to Pakistan could potentially double next year.

According to Fawad Ahmadi, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, “The Ministry of Industry and Commerce under the leadership of Minister Nisar Ahmad Ghoryani is making all its efforts to remove all barriers in the way of the private sector in trade and commerce with Pakistan", adding that "21 issues that were raised by the private sector about trade with Pakistan have been removed".

Officials from the ministry have stated that an Afghan delegation will be visiting Pakistan soon, where they will discuss further enhancement of trade ties with the neighboring country. Naqibullah Safai, the Head of Afghanistan-Pakistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industries stated that trade delegations from the two countries in their recent meetings have agreed to resolve all their bilateral economic issues.

The current volume of trade between Afghanistan and Pakistan is valued at less than $1 billion.