Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

Pakistan, Afghanistan to Double Trade Volume

Pakistan, Afghanistan  to Double Trade Volume

KABUL - At the conclusion of the 9th Joint Economic Commission (JEC) session, Afghanistan and Pakistan on Monday decide to double their bilateral trade volume from $2.5 billion to $5 billion and initiate economic projects of mutual interest.

Pakistan’s Finance Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar and his Afghan counterpart Hazrat Umar Zakhilwal led their respective delegations at the three-day JEC meeting that took up a number of issues, including transit trade.

Addressing a joint press conference, the ministers said they had agreed on boosting the bilateral trade volume, construction of a dam on Kunar River and the supply of 1,300 megawatts of electricity from Central Asia to Pakistan through Afghanistan.

The supply of gas from Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India, construction of the Torkham-Jalalabad dual carriageway, the Chaman-Spin Boldak railway track and a road from Pakistan to Tajikistan through Afghanistan were also discussed.

Zakhilwal said Pakistani officials had promised to complete the construction work on the Jalalabad-Torkham carriageway by the end of 2015. He said economic cooperation between the two counties would help minimize the menace of terrorism and extremism.

Pakistani authorities would consider a specific location for Afghan traders at the Karachi port to unload their commodities. He underlined the imperative of early construction of Torkham-Jalalabad road and the Chaman-Spin Boldak railway track.

Referring to the Kunar incident in which 21 Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers were killed, Dar said Pakistan did not want to harm Afghanistan because a stable Afghanistan was in the interests of Pakistan.

He hoped improved economic links would further increase the level of trust between the neighbours. He called the dam on Kunar River and extension of electricity from Central Asia to Pakistan through Afghanistan important projects.

After the new government took over in Pakistan, ties between Islamabad and Kabul had considerably improved in economic, political and cultural fields, he concluded. (Pajhwok)