Pakistan has allowed Afghanistan to resume exporting goods to India through Wagah Border from Wednesday (July 15) to facilitate Afghanistan’s transit trade.
A statement from the Foreign Office says,
At the special request of the Government of Afghanistan and with a view to facilitating Afghanistan’s transit trade, Pakistan has decided to resume Afghan exports through [the] Wagha border crossing from 15 July 2020, after implementing COVID-19 related protocols.
With this step, it added that Pakistan has fulfilled its commitments under the Pakistan-Afghanistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA).
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“Pakistan has restored bilateral trade and Afghan transit trade at all border crossing terminals to pre-COVID-19 status,” said the statement.
It added that Pakistan remains fully committed to further strengthening its bilateral relations with Afghanistan in all areas including trade and to facilitate Afghanistan’s transit trade under the APTTA.
It is worth mentioning that Pakistan had closed borders with neighboring countries during March with a view to stopping COVID-19 from spreading in the country.
At the request of Kabul to ease transit and bilateral trade activities, Pakistan had reopened its three major border crossings, Torkham, Chaman, and Ghulam Khan last month. It had also reopened two more border crossings, Kharlachi and Angor Adda, on July 12.
In a recent conference last week, private sector representatives from Pakistan and Afghanistan met to boost prosperity and create jobs in both countries. The participants in this U.S. government-facilitated event addressed a range of trade issues between the two countries that have held back the growth of the cross-border economy.
The “Pakistan-Afghanistan Bilateral Trade – Private Sector Perspectives, Strategy, and Recommendations” conference was a first-of-its-kind, cross-border dialogue.
yar kitna laitna hah unke aagay… unse apni bhi koi terms puri karao, media unka din raat bakwasain karta rehta hah ajeeb kisam ki…
The good thing about it is that Pakistan has not allowed India to use the same trade routes for them to sell their goods. Only Afghanistan goods can go to India.