Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce and Trade Abdul Razak Dawood on Friday assured the business community that their issues and concerns over Pak-Afghan transit and bilateral trade will be resolved amicably on a priority basis.

Furthermore, Pakistan-China Sust border will be opened soon temporarily for the resumption of bilateral trade, which was closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a meeting with a delegation of the business community, led by Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) President Mian Anjum Nisar, he instructed Commerce Secretary Saleha Farooqi and DG commerce to get update on the Pak-Afghan bilateral and transit trade on a daily basis and keep him updated accordingly.

Dawood told the delegation that the government of Pakistan, in coordination with the Chinese embassy, was reopening the Sust border for trade. “The business community will soon get the good news of temporary resumption of trade from the Sust border,” he announced.

The adviser assured the FPCCI president about the issues pertaining to industrial chemical imports that emerged after the budget as the duty structure was revised, which increased the cost of raw material.

Earlier, the FPCCI president pointed out that Pakistan’s exports to Afghanistan stood at $2.7 billion in 2011, which fell to $1.1 billion by 2019. Furthermore, 1,500 containers were cleared under bilateral trade before Covid-19 but later it dropped to 250 containers only.

He mentioned that past shipments were cleared within two days and the freight rate for a truck was Rs100,000 while not one truck remained stuck for 20 to 25 days. However, now freight has been increased to Rs400,000 per truck.

Nisar deplored that due to delay in clearance of consignments, perishable goods were destroyed at the border, causing a huge financial loss to the business community.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2255408/pak-afghan-trade-issue-to-be-resolved-on-priority