Raza Khan

Pakistan is keen to include Iran and China in its purposed transit trade agreement with Kazakhstan, says an official. “Afghanistan is a transit hub for Pakistan in its trade with Central Asian countries. However, due to administrative issues in Afghanistan, Pakistan is also looking for other options,” said Sualeh Ahmad Faruqui, Secretary Ministry of Commerce. Briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Commerce, Faruqui said a delegation from Kazakhstan is expected to arrive in Pakistan soon to finalise the matters pertaining to the signing of transit trade agreement.

He said Pakistan is hoping to sign the transit trade agreements with all Central Asian countries. “Transit trade agreements with Azerbaijan and Tajikistan have already been signed,” he added. He informed that a meeting of the joint ministerial commission of Pakistan and Kazakhstan would be held in Islamabad to finalise the agreement. The secretary commerce said that administrative issues in Afghanistan, connectivity problem and absence of formal banking channel are hurting the business community.

“The Central Asian countries are also linked with Pakistan via Iran and China,” Farooqui said, adding that Pakistan would also negotiate to include these two neighbouring countries as transit route in its purposed transit trade agreement with Kazakhstan. “Iran also provides Pakistan a railways link to Central Asian countries,” he said, adding that talks are underway with Iran for obtaining a railway route.

Faruqui said that all Central Asian countries wanted to be connected with seaports in Pakistan to boost their trade. Yerzhan Kistafin, Kazakh Ambassador to Pakistan, earlier said that the minister of commerce and industry of Kazakhstan was expected to visit Pakistan to discuss mutual trade and Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA). He said that the current volume of mutual trade is $197 million, which can easily be taken up to $1 billion.

The ambassador said that Kazakhstan is the largest economy in the Central Asian region where there is a huge economic potential. Earlier, Pakistan and Uzbekistan had signed Pakistan-Uzbekistan Transit Trade Agreement (AUPTT) on July 15, 2021 which became operational in March 2022. According to the draft of the AUPTT, Pakistan and Uzbekistan agreed to facilitate the movement of goods through territories of their respective states and to provide transit services and facilities for trade.

Under the agreement, Pakistan will provide Uzbekistan access to its ports to facilitate the expansion of its international trade and economic development. Likewise, Uzbekistan will be a facilitator for Pakistan for its connectivity with Central Asia. The routes used for transit traffic through the territories of both countries include maritime ports in the territory of Pakistan, Karachi Port, Port Qasim and Gwadar Port.

Road and rail links between these ports and border crossings with Afghanistan at Torkham, Ghulam Khan and Chaman would also be part of transit route apart from airports in the territories of Uzbekistan and Pakistan. Recently Pakistan has signed a transit trade agreement with Tajikistan offering and availing similar facilities mentioned in its transit trade agreement with Uzbekistan.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk