January 11, 2002	Friday	Shawwal 26, 1422

KARACHI, Jan 10: The business community wants the government to speed up its efforts in getting a major share in the $20 billion Trust Fund for reconstruction and rehabilitation of Afghanistan before “India can take advantage of the situation.”

In a letter to the Commerce Ministry on January 8, the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) urged the government to quickly re-open its mission in Kabul without any further loss of time as “India and few other countries have already taken a lead in this regard.”

A very energetic person should be appointed as the commercial counsellor to boost exports and identify areas for the Pakistani businessmen, builders and engineers to undertake reconstruction and development work in Afghanistan.

FPCCI said that it intended to send a delegation to Afghanistan as soon as possible for this purpose. A Pakistan-Afghanistan trade and Industry Committee had been set up to take measures for promoting trade and send delegation to Afghanistan.

There is a need to send a goodwill delegation to Afghanistan which may prepare ground for sending trade delegations afterwards. FPCCI urged the ministry to identify areas/sectors which can be explored by the business delegation.

The FPCCI president, Iftikhar Ali Malik, also asked the Communication and Railway Minister to develop road and rail links with Afghanistan which could be extended further to Iran and the landlocked Central Asian Republics.