Pakistan holds trade talks with Afghanistan

 Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's commerce adviser Abdul Razak Dawood has met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul where the two leaders discussed ways to expand bilateral trade relations, officials said here on Tuesday.

The high-level exchanges took place ahead of a possible visit by Prime Minister Khan in near future which would be his visit to Afghanistan, they said.

During his two-day Afghan visit, which concluded on Tuesday, Dawood, who was leading a Pakistani delegation, also met several senior officials and discussed issues relating to Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA), Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) and other investment-related matters between the two countries, according to a statement issued by Pakistan's commerce ministry.

Dawood met Afghan President Ghani and discussed a wide range of issues pertaining to trade and economic integration, it said.

He also met Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR), and thanked him for his support in strengthening the bilateral ties between the two countries.

Apart from Dawood, the delegation includes high-level officials from the ministries of commerce and maritime, Federal Board of Revenue (Customs) and State Bank of Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the 7th meeting of the Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Trade Cooperation Authority (APTTCA) was held in Kabul on Tuesday after a break of more than four years. During the official talks, extensive and fruitful deliberations were held on the whole spectrum of bilateral trade and investment relations including formalising the informal cross-border trade.

Dawood hoped that the visit would mark the beginning of a new era of trade and investment cooperation between the two countries. This would lead to integration of the two economies and move the bilateral trade to a more formal and documented arrangement, the statement said.

“This deepening of trade and Investment relations between the two countries would also enhance trade Pakistan’s exports to Afghanistan and beyond, to the Central Asian Countries,” it said.