ISLAMABAD, April 25: The Afghan government has formally requested Islamabad to further reduce railway freight charges for Afghan transit cargo (ATC).

Official sources told Dawn on Friday that the demand, among others, was made during the visit of Afghan president Hamid Karzai urging the government to facilitate the ATT in order to speed up the reconstruction activities in the war-torn country.

Pakistan Railways had reduced freight charges for Afghan transit cargo by more than 20 per cent from May 11, 2002.

The sources said the government was actively considering the Afghan demand to make the ATT goods more competitive with those imported through Iran.

They said the Afghan government was also seeking inclusion of the Port Muhammad Bin Qasim in the agreement for handling Afghan transit cargo in addition to the Karachi Port.

At present ATC could only be transported through railway wagons. Following the increase in ATC, the sources said the government also considered the proposal to include the NLC in the agreement for the transportation of Afghan transit cargo.

They said the Afghan government also wanted more customs points at the Pakistan-Afghan boarder to further facilitate the trade between the two countries. The proposed demand was for opening Nava Pass and Ghulam Khan customs points in NWFP and mini dry port for exports at Chaman.

The Afghan government has reportedly warned that in case their demands are not met by the Pakistan government, then they will prefer to import goods through Iran, which is actively engaged in the process of providing more facilities to the Afghan importers.

The Iranian government has recently annouced maximum facilities for the Afghan importers with open transit facility to import any kind of goods under the ATT through the Bandar Abbas Port.

To make the goods more competitive the government is likely to consider these demands shortly to enhance the volume of ATC, the sources added.

The import value of ATT surged by more than 79 per cent during July-February 2002-03, over the corresponding period of last fiscal year. The sources expect trade under the ATT will further increase following the withdrawal of more than eight items from the negative list.