August 6, 2003	Wednesday	Jumadi-us-Sani 7, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Aug 5: Experts from China, Kazakhstan, Kirgyzstan and Pakistan on Tuesday signed an agreement on traffic and transit and decided to issue 200 road permits to each member country for a year.

The decision was taken at the concluding session of a two-day meeting convened to finalize the agreement among the countries.

A consensus was reached to waive the transit fee and toll charges on traffic and transit.

The experts decided to hold a review meeting after three months of the issuance of road permits, expected on Oct 1.

The review meeting would decide to increase or decrease the number of permits according to the quantum of trade and traffic.

It was decided that Pakistan, as the host and depository of the agreement, would print the permits.

Earlier, the issue of road permits and transit fee had blocked the implementation of the agreement signed by the states in March 1995.

The meeting concluded with an understanding that Kazakhstan would host a ministerial meeting of the countries in Almaty in October for formalizing the implementation of the agreement.

It realized that the construction of Gwadar port would help in increasing the transit traffic and trade manifold.