Share this story!            

US, Afghanistan, Pakistan discuss economic links

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani and Afghan finance ministers and the US Treasury Department deputy secretary on Sunday held a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the Asian Development Bank on Jeju Island, South Korea. They reviewed the region’s economic development and discussed a number of initiatives for close economic links between Pakistan and Afghanistan and the region in general.

The meeting noted that the level of trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan was rising and was likely to touch the billion dollar this year, but that there was scope for more trade if new border points were established and transit trade arrangements simplified.

A number of issues related to fast and unhindered movement of goods were examined. Pakistani Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz said Pakistan was in the process of acquiring scanning machines to be placed at the border points to discourage smuggling and pave the way for the use of trucks for the movement of Afghan transit trade cargo.

He said the Pakistani government was opening new border points and improving the efficiency of ports for the expeditious clearance of goods.

He said all major irritants had been removed, including the significant curtailment of negative list of goods for Afghan transit trade.

Afghan Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani said there was a need to set up a textile industry in Afghanistan. “This will induce farmers to grow cotton, which was a sizeable crop in the past but was replaced by others, including poppy,” he added.

He also said a number of successful Pakistani manufacturers were keen to establish industries in Afghanistan. However, this would only be possible if Afghanistan was allowed preferential access to US and EU markets along the same lines as provided to Jordan and Bangladesh. US Treasury Department Deputy Secretary John B Taylor agreed to discuss the proposal with his government.

The meeting also discussed prospects of regional economic cooperation. Transport, customs and electricity were identified as the potential areas where cooperation was feasible and would bring considerable benefits to the region. —APP

Home | National

Share this story!