ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to facilitate trade activities for war-torn Afghanistan by granting a temporary waiver of Electronic Import Form (EIF), a mandatory process of banking transactions for trade purpose.

The decision was taken on Wednesday during a meeting of the Afghanistan Inter-Ministerial Coordination Cell presided over by National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf.

An official press release said the waiver, initially granted for 45 days, comes in compliance with the directions of Prime Minister Imran Khan to assist Afghanistan in addressing the impending humanitarian and economic crisis.

The meeting was attended by Pakistan’s Special Envoy to Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq and representatives from the Foreign Office, ministries of interior and commerce, the Federal Board of Revenue and Federal Investigation Agency.

Now with the introduction of the new measures, imports from Afghanistan would be possible without the mandatory EIF as required by the State Bank of Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2022