ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser on Thursday directed the Commerce and Law divisions to expedite the bill process for evolving a workable trade dispute resolution mechanism for traders of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Chairing the 8th meeting of the Executive Committee of Pakistan-Afghanistan Parliamentary Friendship Group, the speaker asked the relevant divisions why the bill had been pending for the last one year. He also stressed that there should not be any discriminatory policies of banks for opening bank accounts especially of foreign investors referring to Afghan nationals.

The meeting also reviewed implementation status of other recommendations. The forum is meant to resolve and facilitate trade and economic relation between the two countries.

The representative of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) briefed the committee that 9,035 Afghan nationals have accounts in different banks of the country. He said that digital interventions were needed to capitalise on the trade opportunities in and around the border areas.

The speaker stressed the need for practically following the implementation of cross-stuffing at Port Qasim and inclusion of Board of Investment (BoI) in this regard.

The committee also deliberated to take initiative to enhance pharmaceutical export of the country especially with Afghanistan.

Special Assistant to PM Arbab Shahzad emphasised the need to have a workable solution for relaxing ban on the export of livestock especially from borders areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

He also sought strong coordination between the federal and provincial departments to tackle the issues of border areas especially emerging issues of pedestrians, cross stuffing, infrastructural development.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2021