ISLAMABAD, Jan 27: The Pak-Afghan Joint Economic Commission (JEC) will hold its next meeting in Islamabad on Feb 10-11, to work towards augmenting the current bilateral trade levels.
The dates were confirmed through diplomatic channels on Thursday, a week after Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz telephoned Afghan President Hamid Karzai and conveyed to him the importance Pakistan attaches to the commission.
The commission is co-chaired by the top finance managers of the two countries Sources in the Prime Minister's office told Dawn that the Pakistani delegation to the JEC would be headed by prime minister's finance adviser Salman Shah while the Afghan side would be led by new Afghan Finance Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Ahadi.
This will be the first meeting of the two new co-chairmen of the JEC. At the last meeting of the JEC in Kabul, the Pakistani delegation was led by Mr Shaukat Aziz, the then finance minister.
The JEC, aimed at strengthening and expanding existing ties particularly in the economic area, will review bilateral and transit trade issues as well as disbursement of the $100 million aid pledged by Pakistan for Afghanistan reconstruction, diplomatic sources told Dawn. All other aspects of bilateral economic cooperation would also be discussed, they added
Other issues to be discussed will be the progress made on the new Pak-Afghan trade route projects to expand two-way trade between the countries. Opening up of more Pakistani banks in Afghanistan and training manpower in the areas of banking and finance would also be discussed, it is learnt.
The additional border crossings would facilitate bilateral trade and movement of individuals across the international border, officials say. This would be the first JEC meeting after Mr Karzai's election as president last year.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz during his telephonic conversation with President Karzai last week told him that Islamabad was keen to enhance trade and the existing facilities for Afghan transit trade. The two leaders also discussed the need to look at ways of expanding trade between the two countries.
