Despite many rounds of talks between the Afghan and Pakistan trade officials, issues related to Afghan exports to India remained unsolved, TOLOnews quoted Afghanistan’s Ministry of Industry and Commerce as saying.  

Earlier in October, officials from Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed to resolve 16 out of 21 outstanding trade issues at the Afghanistan-Pakistan Trade and Investment Forum 2020 held in Islamabad. 

Officials from Afghanistan and Pakistan are expected to hold a meeting next month to resolve further trade and transit barriers, said Afghan Industry and Commerce Minister Nisar Ahmad Ghoryani. 

Afghanistan, a landlocked country, requires a land transit permit from Pakistan to access the Indian market for exports of its goods. Pakistan often severely restricts that access to Afghanistan due to its rivalry with India. 

Although India and Afghanistan have developed alternate routes- via Chabahar port in Iran and air corridor - but all these routes remain either costly or time-consuming in comparison to the land route that passes through Pakistan. 

Private industry players from Afghanistan alleged that they often get “sidelined” when it comes to trade talks between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and asked both countries to address their problems.

“There are a lot of challenges and the private sector is suffering its consequences. The Afghan government needs to resolve this issue so that we can overcome the issues facing transit of our goods through Pakistan,” said Sayed Zaman Hashimi, CEO of Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment. 

The trade between Afghanistan and Pakistan also slumped this year owing to various restrictions like frequent border closure and custom related issues. Hashimi said he expected the bilateral to remain less than $1 billion this year too.