ISLAMABAD: Ministry of Comme­rce has announced a list of 57 products for barter trade with Afghanistan, Iran and Russia to save the country’s foreign exchange at a time when its foreign exchange reserves are running low.

The commerce ministry through SRO642 on Tuesday notified a list of goods eligible for import and export under barter trade with Afghanistan. However, only imports are allowed under the scheme with Iran and Russia.

The items which can be exported to Afghanistan under the barter scheme are milk, cream, eggs and cereals, meat and fish products; rice, confectionery and bakery items, pharmaceutical products, essential oils, perfumes, cosmetics, toiletries, soaps, lubricants, waxes and matches, tanning, dying extracts and misc. chemicals products.

Plastics and rubber articles, finished leather & leather apparel, articles of wood, articles of paper & paper board, textiles (inter-mediates), readymade gar­ments, textile’s made-ups and carpets, footwear, iron and steel, copper and articles thereof, tool and cutlery, electric fans and home appliances, electrical equipment, motorcycles and tractors — excluding components — surgical instruments, furniture items, and sports goods can also be exported to Kabul.

At the same time, the items allowed under the barter system from Afghanistan are fruits and nuts, vegetables and pulses, spices, oil seeds, minerals and metals, coal and its products, raw rubber items, raw hides and skins, cotton, iron & steel.

No goods are allowed to export to Iran under the barter system. Only fruits, nuts and vegetables, minerals & metals, spices, coal and its products, petroleum crude oil, LNG and LPG, miscellaneous chemical products, fertilisers, articles of plastics and rubber in primary form, raw hides and skins, raw wool, articles of iron & steel can be imported from Iran.

Items allowed for import from Russia are pulses, wheat, coal and its products, petroleum oils (including crude), LNG and LPG, fertilisers, tanning and dying extracts, articles of plastics and rubber in primary form, minerals and metals, wood and paper, chemicals products, iron and steel, and items of textile industrial machinery.

Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2023