ISLAMABAD, Aug 30: Central Board of Revenue Chairman M. Abdullah Yousuf said on Monday the government would set up more customs check posts along the Pakistan-Afghan border to facilitate and regulate trade between the two countries.

He was talking to reporters after the inauguration of a seven-week trading course for 22 Afghan customs officers and trainers.

Mr Yousuf said the check posts would also help reduce the chances of smuggling through the porous borders causing harm to the national kitty of both the countries. The government has recently established two check posts at Ghulam Khan and Ben Shahi.

The CBR chairman said that 17 check posts along the Pakistan-Afghan border were already operative. He said that transit trade with Afghanistan was continuing, but still there were bottlenecks which would be addressed after thorough discussion. He asked the authorities concerned to update the Afghan customs officials on the handling of ATT containers at ports.

He said that Pakistan had offered Afghanistan customs training facilities, macro-finance training, accounting and auditing assistance in terms of the government accounting and audit, payment system, banking and post office training.

Mr Yousuf said that in addition to the Afghan Transit Trade both the sides were working together, helping Afghanistan in building its capacity in different areas. In reply to a question, the CBR chief said the government was considering removing six more items from the negative list to Afghanistan.

He expressed the hope that this step would help further promote trade between the two countries. Afghan Counsellor Rehmatullah Ghazi, Director Afghan Desk, Foreign Office, Faqir Syed Asif Hussain, and Afghan customs officer Muhammad Bashir also addressed the gathering.