KHYBER: Pakistan and Afghan border officials agreed on Tuesday to devise a mechanism to enhance bilateral trade via the Torkham border.

A meeting to this effect was held at the customs compound attended by officials of Frontier Corps, National Logistics Cell, Federal Investigation Agency, State Bank of Pakistan, Khyber and Sarhad chambers, local traders and customs clearing agents.

From Afghanistan side, their border officials — Maulvi Mustafa, Maulvi Ubaidullah and head of Afghan customs Abdul Hameed participated in the meeting.

The participants discussed all the issues confronted by the local traders and transporters in clearance of goods at the border, and also shared suggestions for prompt removal of bottlenecks in goods clearance.

The meeting agreed on increasing the number of electronic scanners in order to expedite the scanning process of loaded trucks and reducing chances of delay in customs clearance in order to overcome traffic congestion at the border crossing.

Representatives of Khyber and Sarhad chambers told the meeting that delay in issuance of export forms by the private banks to the local exporters was causing reduction in export of Pakistani goods to Afghanistan despite an extension in the ‘cash-on-counter’ facility by the State Bank of Pakistan.

The meeting agreed on formation of a coordination committee comprising government officials and representatives of local traders, customs clearing agents and transporters to pinpoint difficulties in goods clearance.

It was for the first time that Taliban officials participated in such a meeting on the Pakistan side of the border after they took control of Afghanistan in mid August.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2021