Pakistan and Afghanistan should allow visa-free mutual visits to business persons of both the countries which will greatly help in improving bilateral trade and economic relations.
This was the consensus opinion of Pak-Afghan entrepreneurs at an interactive session at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
A large delegation of Afghan women entrepreneurs including some parliamentarians accompanied by Sameena Imtiaz, Executive Director, Peace Education and Development (PEAD) Foundation, participated in the interactive session on the theme “trade and economy in the region and role of women”.
They were of the opinion that Pakistan and Afghanistan had tremendous potential to increase commercial relations, but strict visa regimes were the main hurdle in promoting bilateral trade. They said a soft visa policy would be beneficial for both the countries as Pakistan would provide landlocked Afghanistan easy access to South Asian markets while Afghanistan would provide access to Pakistan to Central Asian markets.
They emphasized that both the countries should develop soft borders with visa free movement of people and goods. For this purpose, both countries should be closely connected with road and railway links. They demanded that both countries should take effective measures for eradicating existing trade barriers including customs clearance issues, payment problems through banks, transportation problems and smuggling to increase bilateral trade up to a satisfactory level.
The Afghan businesswomen said that Afghan traders were facing difficulties in timely clearance of imported goods at the Karachi Port and such delays sometimes cost them more than the actual price of goods and demanded that the government of Pakistan should remove such hurdles to facilitate Afghan traders in smooth trade.
