ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Afghanistan held talks on Friday for finalising implementation procedures for installing tracking system, biometric system and establishing bank guarantee system and other international requirements for the start of Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA).
These issues were discussed at the first meeting of the Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Trade Coordination Authority (APTTCA) on Friday. Commerce Secretary Zafar Mahmood and Afghan Deputy Minister for Commerce and Industries Muhammad Sharif Sharify co-chaired the meeting. APTTCA would be dealing with all matters related to transit trade and transportation between both the countries under APTTA.
The APTTA agreement becomes operational from February 12, as both the governments have already approved its implementation. An official source said that the operationalisation of transit trade will take a few more days, as the tracking and biometric systems were not fully in place and some more work was required on bank guarantees. However, he said, these matters were be resolved within the next few days.
The Commerce secretary hoped that Afghan authorities would take steps to address the main concern of Pakistani businesses on smuggling-related issues. However, he expressed satisfaction that APTTA provided for a comprehensive inbuilt mechanism to address the issue of unauthorised trade. Muhammad Sharif Sharifi said both countries enjoyed historical trade and economical relations, adding that APTTCA would work hard to sort out all problems in the implementation of APTTA.
