June 16, 2006	Friday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 19, 1427

ISLAMABAD, June 15: The Pak-Afghan Joint Economic Commission (JEC) has proposed that both the neighbours should enter into Preferential Tariff Agreement (PTA) and ultimately lead it towards a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) by eliminating tariffs and trade barriers.

The suggestion came in the two-day sixth session of the JEC which concluded here on Thursday.

Islamabad also announced that it would provide 1,000 scholarships to Afghan students every year and excluded cooking oil from the negative list. Pakistan would also finance a new parallel road between Torkham border and Jalalabad and construction of another road between Jalalabad and Jabal-us Siraj via Sarobi.

The Pakistani support was announced by adviser to the prime minister on finance Dr Salman Shah at the concluding session. The Afghan side said Pakistan was the largest Muslim donor to Afghanistan, which had earmarked $250 million for the war-ravaged country. Out of the total amount, $109 million has so far been utilised and the remaining will be spent on the proposed road projects.

While talking to newsmen after the concluding session, Afghan Finance Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Ahady said all bilateral trade issues had been settled with Pakistan and appreciated Pakistan's decision to provide scholarships to the Afghan students.

He said Pakistan would provide training to Afghan custom officials, diplomats, police officers, bankers and accountants which would help improve the country's skills. Both the countries have also constituted a joint committee to look after the Afghan Transit Trade (ATT) and remove obstacles from its way.

Sources privy to the meeting told Dawn that Mr Ahady had urged Pakistan to do more for reducing intervention in the transit trade from Karachi to Peshawar and Karachi to Chaman. The Afghan minister also expressed his concern over slow implementation of the ATT agreement.

According to the ATT, signed by Pakistan and Afghanistan in 1965, goods transiting via Pakistani port of Karachi for import or export to Afghanistan were exempted from duties or customs tariffs by Pakistan. The sources said the Afghan side was of the view that Pakistan Railways and National Logistic Cell (NLC) were overcharging their goods and there was a need for the involvement of the private sector.

The Afghan delegation said charging customs tariffs on electronics and automobile machinery by Pakistan was a clear violation of the agreement. They said private contractors were also charging goods destined for Afghanistan very high at Peshawar dry port. They said Afghan trucks should be allowed on reciprocal basis to free pass through the territory of Pakistan, as Pakistani trucks were allowed within Afghanistan.

Dr Salman Shah said Pakistan was focusing on the development of infrastructure, provision of road links and better communication facilities from Gwadar to border areas to facilitate Afghan trade.

The joint statement said both the sides expressed their deep satisfaction over the encouraging trend in bilateral trade which increased to $1.2 billion in 2005-06 from only $169 million in 2000-01. They also agreed to enhance measures for increasing of Afghan exports to Pakistan. Afghanistan will identify exportable items in areas of potential joint ventures so that private sectors of both the countries could be encouraged for increasing Afghan exports to Pakistan.

It stated that with regard to the Afghan Transit Trade, the Afghan government acknowledged that transportation and handling of Afghan transit goods had considerably improved during the last three years.