No trade through Wahgah despite us pressure

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

ISLAMABAD (July 12 2010): Pakistan is unlikely to allow trade between India and land locked Afghanistan through Wahgah border despite persistent pressure from Washington. "I am sure that Islamabad will not allow Kabul to carry out trade with New Delhi by using Pakistan's transit facility," said one Pakistani official on condition of anonymity.

The official was reacting to a story published on Sunday stating that Afghan business community is expecting the two countries to ink a trade agreement which would open trade between Kabul and New Delhi through Pakistan.

According to the official both the countries would hold the seventh round of talks on July 18-19 in Islamabad and would be represented by members of the Joint Working Group (JWG) established to deal with Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA).

Pakistani side will be headed by senior joint secretary of commerce ministry, Hamayat Ullah Khan, who according to insiders in the ministry is not 'as sharp' as the job requires. Washington had urged Pakistan to ink the new transit trade agreement with Kabul by November 30, 2009 but it could not materialise because of Kabul's unwillingness to provide guarantees to ensure that imported goods will not be smuggled back to Pakistan within hours of landing in Afghan territory.

Pakistan's local industry is urging the government to seek guarantees from Afghan authorities that goods like black tea, tyres, razors, electronic and engineering will not be cross-bordered to Pakistan. "We want iron clad guarantees from Kabul over smuggling of imported goods into Pakistani territory and until and unless these guarantees are not provided, no pact is expected to be signed," said another official.

Officials said the FBR had proposed a new mechanism to check smuggling under the new APTTA by imposing quantitative restriction on transit goods on the basis of actual consumption in Afghanistan. Presently the volume of many items exported to Afghanistan under the existing transit trade agreement is much higher compared to the actual consumption in Afghanistan. It is proposed to compile a list of sensitive items on regular basis and submit the same to the Afghan authorities to check its actual consumption in Afghanistan.

Recently, Afghan Finance Minister was in Islamabad to remove hurdles in the way of APTTA but failed to ease concerns of Pakistani authorities. Both countries hope that with the signing of new APTTA and curbing of unauthorised trade, volume of legal trade could rise to $2 billion per annum.