Tweet
Afghan-Pakistan transit trade
PESHAWAR: The business community and traders have asked the government to review the Afghan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) as it was detrimental to the economy of the country in general and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in particular.
The federal cabinet, despite a number of reservations and proposals from the business community and traders, approved the draft of the APTTA that has triggered concerns from the business circles.
According to the reports, the Trade and Commerce Ministry had also initially expressed reservations about the APTTA, but the federal government completed arrangements to sign the agreement with Afghanistan sometime this month.
Member of the Executive Committee of the Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) and Chairman of the Pakistan Railways Dry Port Standing Committee Ziaul Haq Sarhadi told The News that the government was going to formally sign the APTTA with the Afghan government, which would badly affect the economy of the country.
Sarhadi said the traders and the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Trade met on September 16 to review the APTTA draft and prepared a set of proposals for the federal government to review the draft agreement in the light of the same. He said the committee directed the secretary for commerce to present the draft agreement at the committee meeting and that no further action should be taken on the agreement until consensus was evolved on it.
Sarhardi said that despite all reservations, the federal cabinet, however, approved the draft APTTA that was unjust and against the interests of the country. He urged the government to take all stakeholders on board and incorporate their proposals in the draft before signing the agreement.
Former vice president and chairman of the standing committee on customs of the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) Mohammad Ishaq said the traders and businesspersons had rejected the agreement in the first place as it did not address the issues between the business and trade communities of the contracting countries.
He alleged that the agreement was concluded under the US pressure giving maximum advantages to Afghanistan and India, and its sole purpose seemed to be the passage to the Indian products into the region. He said that allowing the Afghan trucks to deliver and pick goods from inside Pakistan would compromise security of the county. It would harm the Pakistan Railways and National Logistics Cell (NLC), which are earning billion of rupees from the transportation of the transit goods, he added.
Mohammad Ishaq said the traders were still concerned about the positive list of APTTA, under which most imported goods were smuggled back into Pakistan because of the disparity in custom duties and Import Tariff Price (ITP) between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Former SCCI president Ghulam Sarwar Khan Mohmand, who had represented Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the APTTA talks, also accused the government of giving in to the US pressure and said the agreement did not address the real issues. He said the agreement would adversely affect the local transport and railways.
Afghan-Pakistan transit trade
The federal cabinet, despite a number of reservations and proposals from the business community and traders, approved the draft of the APTTA that has triggered concerns from the business circles.
According to the reports, the Trade and Commerce Ministry had also initially expressed reservations about the APTTA, but the federal government completed arrangements to sign the agreement with Afghanistan sometime this month.
Member of the Executive Committee of the Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) and Chairman of the Pakistan Railways Dry Port Standing Committee Ziaul Haq Sarhadi told The News that the government was going to formally sign the APTTA with the Afghan government, which would badly affect the economy of the country.
Sarhadi said the traders and the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Trade met on September 16 to review the APTTA draft and prepared a set of proposals for the federal government to review the draft agreement in the light of the same. He said the committee directed the secretary for commerce to present the draft agreement at the committee meeting and that no further action should be taken on the agreement until consensus was evolved on it.
Sarhardi said that despite all reservations, the federal cabinet, however, approved the draft APTTA that was unjust and against the interests of the country. He urged the government to take all stakeholders on board and incorporate their proposals in the draft before signing the agreement.
Former vice president and chairman of the standing committee on customs of the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) Mohammad Ishaq said the traders and businesspersons had rejected the agreement in the first place as it did not address the issues between the business and trade communities of the contracting countries.
He alleged that the agreement was concluded under the US pressure giving maximum advantages to Afghanistan and India, and its sole purpose seemed to be the passage to the Indian products into the region. He said that allowing the Afghan trucks to deliver and pick goods from inside Pakistan would compromise security of the county. It would harm the Pakistan Railways and National Logistics Cell (NLC), which are earning billion of rupees from the transportation of the transit goods, he added.
Mohammad Ishaq said the traders were still concerned about the positive list of APTTA, under which most imported goods were smuggled back into Pakistan because of the disparity in custom duties and Import Tariff Price (ITP) between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Former SCCI president Ghulam Sarwar Khan Mohmand, who had represented Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the APTTA talks, also accused the government of giving in to the US pressure and said the agreement did not address the real issues. He said the agreement would adversely affect the local transport and railways.
Afghan-Pakistan transit trade
Comment