ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has started consultation with all stakeholders for negotiating a preferential trade agreement (PTA) with Afghanistan.
Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood was holding a consultative meeting at the Ministry of Commerce on matters relating to Pakistan’s trade with Afghanistan and the Central Asian Republics (CARs).
The adviser was also informed that work on the revision of the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) was in the final stages. He was further informed that a delegation from Afghanistan will visit Pakistan from 28-30th December 2020 to hold talks on the PTA, APTTA and establishment of Joint Border Markets (JBMs).
Dawood briefed the session on his meetings with the leadership of Afghanistan during his visit to the country last month which preceded the visit of the Prime Minister to Kabul. The consultations have been started with all stakeholders to negotiate a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with Afghanistan and work is continuing in this regard, he added.
Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Dr Sardor U. Umurzakov appreciated the sentiments and resolve expressed by Pakistan for improvement of trade relations. The adviser reiterated that Pakistan has always believed in free flow of goods between Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Central Asian Republics (CARs).
He invited the commerce adviser and his team to visit Uzbekistan in January 2021 for the inaugural meeting of Joint Working Group (JWG) on Trade and Economy in Tashkent which will examine the prospects of PTA between Pakistan and Uzbekistan.
Razak Dawood also held a video-conference with Dr. Umurzakov in the past week and discussed the progress made since his visit to Pakistan in September and ways to further increase Pakistan’s trade with Uzbekistan and the region.
