Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Sunday welcomed the decision of the government of Afghanistan to issue one-year multiple entry business visas for Pakistani businesspeople.
He said that the decision would go a long way in helping the two countries achieve the target of raising bilateral trade to $5 billion by 2018. He hoped that Pakistani businessmen would avail of the new facility in order to boost exports and business ties with Afghanistan.
The matter was initially raised by the finance minister at the 9th session of the Pak-Afghan Joint Economic Commission (JEC) in Kabul in February 2014. The minister had suggested to the Afghan side to reciprocate the facility being extended to Afghan businesspeople by Pakistan, with a view to increasing bilateral trade relations. Pakistan again took up the matter with the Afghan side during the visit by the Afghan finance minister to Islamabad in November 2014 as well as at the recent 10th Pak-Afghan JEC held in Islamabad in November 2015, wherein the finance minister emphasised the importance of the measure for further improvement of bilateral trade.
The government of Afghanistan has now formally communicated to the finance minister that the Embassy as well as three Consulates General of Afghanistan have started issuing one-year multiple entry business visas to Pakistani businessmen.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar received UN Resident Coordinator Neil Buhne and discussed the rehabilitation of displaced persons, social security and impact of climate change.
Neil Buhne, while talking to the minister, reiterated UN support for Pakistan’s efforts for the rehabilitation of Temporarily Displaced Persons (TDPs), social security, combating impact of climate change as well as electoral reforms.
The finance minister on this occasion said that UN had been a partner of Pakistan in its quest for economic progress. UN contribution to development activities in the country is highly praiseworthy. He apprised Neil Buhne about the measures that the government was taking for rehabilitation of TDPs and also shared with him details about the income support programme. He said that under the programme number of beneficiaries had been raised to over 5 million and budget allocation had crossed Rs 100 billion during the last two years.
The minister also apprised the UN resident coordinator about Pakistan’s participation in the climate moot held in Paris and said that Pakistan fully shared concerns of the international community on the impact of global climate change.
The minister appreciated UNDPs’ assistance to Pakistan and wished Neil Buhne the best in his tenure as UN resident coordinator in Pakistan.