Trade with Afghanistan, CARs: Dawood holds consultative meeting

ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood, held a consultative meeting at the Ministry of Commerce on Monday on matters relating to Pakistan's trade with Afghanistan and the Central Asian Republics (CARs).

He briefed the session on his meetings with the leadership of Afghanistan during his visit to the country last month which preceded the visit of the Prime Minister to Kabul.

The Adviser was informed that further to these visits, a lot of work has been done. Consultations have been started with all stakeholders to negotiate a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with Afghanistan and work is continuing in this regard. He was also informed that work on revision of the Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) was in final stages. The Advisor was further informed that a delegation from Afghanistan will visit Pakistan from 28 to 30 December 2020 to hold talks on the PTA, APTTA and establishment Joint Border Markets (JBMs).

Also as a follow-up to the visit of Dr Sardor U Umurzakov, the Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan for Investment in International Trade in September 2020, Dawood also held video-conference with Dr Umurzakov in the past week to discuss the progress made since his visit to Pakistan and ways and means to further increase Pakistan's trade with Uzbekistan and CARs.

The Advisor reiterated that Pakistan has always believed in free flow of goods between Pakistan, Afghanistan and the CARs. Dr Umurzakov appreciated the sentiments and resolve expressed by Pakistan for improvement of trade relations. He invited the Advisor his team to visit Uzbekistan in January 2021 to have the inaugural meeting of Joint Working Group (JWG) on Trade and Economy in Tashkent which will examine the prospects of PTA between Pakistan and Uzbekistan.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020