March 21, 2003	Friday	Muharram 17, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, March 20: The government has decided to add some road and rail routes for Afghan transit trade and delete of selected items from the negative list.

The Afghan package, initiated by Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan, was approved by the cabinet’s economic coordination committee on Tuesday but its announcement was withheld by the finance ministry until President Hamid Karzai’s visit this week.

The decision is seen as a policy shift in the aftermath of trade facilitation measures between Iran and Afghanistan and transit trade agreement among India, Iran and Afghanistan.

Documents suggest eight items have been deleted from the negative list, cotton yarn, polyester metalized film, ball bearing, timers, tape recorders, glassware and dinner sets, juicers and blenders, video cassette recorders and players. The negative list has now reduced to 16 items.

Port Qasim has been allowed to be used for transit to Afghanistan. Karachi Port Trust and Port Qasim Authority would also offer discount comparable with other ports in the region on handling charges of transit goods.

The railways has been asked to rationalize its freight charges for Afghan transit cargo. The fare would be brought at par with that for local goods.

Road transportation companies of both the countries, meeting the criteria set forth by the Central Board of Revenue, have been allowed to carry transit cargo.

Land route has also been allowed for transit of goods from Iran to Afghanistan by road and rail.

To avoid adverse impact of reduction in negative list, the Afghan government would be asked to meet the requirement of items from the list from Iran, Central Asia and Pakistan.

Afghanistan would be asked to impose equal custom duty on items deleted from the negative list to reduce the incentive for smuggling.

Wherever possible, duty on items in the list would be reduced to discourage smuggling. Duty on raw material of items manufactured locally would be cut to reduce the cost for making the products competitive against smuggling.