September 26, 2003	Friday	Rajab 28, 1424

KABUL, Sept 25: Afghan Commerce Minister Syed Mustafa Kazimi said on Thursday that official bilateral trade between Pakistan and his country has reached $650 million mark since last year.

He was speaking at the inauguration of Pakistan single country exhibition being organized by Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) and Pakistan Embassy in Kabul at Chaman-e-Hazoori from September 25 to 27.

He said that while Pakistan was providing transit trade facility to Afghanistan, his country would also provide transit trade facility to Pakistan for Central Asian States for the exports of goods.

Kazimi said that his country would welcome investment from Pakistan and provide facilities to Pakistani investors for this purpose.

Appreciating Pakistan for holding single country exhibition in Kabul, he said that this would open a new avenues for trade between the two countries.

The minister said transitional government of Afghanistan was creating an atmosphere for interaction with the international community specially with its neighbours.

State Minister and chairman EPB Tariq Ikram in his speech said that more than 150 Pakistani businessmen belonging to about 85 leading manufacturing concerns were displaying over 200 items at the show.

Later, the Afghan Minister inaugurated the exhibition and visited stalls.—APP

Our Reporter adds from Islamabad: Before leaving for Kabul, the Chairman Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), Tariq told Dawn that the government was considering a request of Afghan government to allocate funds for construction of Torkham-Jalalabad road to facilitate trade between the two countries.

He said the funds would be spent from $100 million aid offered to Afghanistan for the reconstruction activities.

The chairman said that Afghanistan’s import through Karachi port resulted into at least $200 less cost per container as compared to imports through other ports of the neighbouring countries.