PESHAWAR, Dec 24: Pakistan and Afghanistan are reviewing a draft of a new agreement, which will replace the existing Afghan Transit Trade Agreement (ATTA), signed in 1965 between the two countries for facilitating regional trade via their land routes.

The draft agreement, prepared by the Afghan side and received by Pakistan’s Embassy in Kabul last month, was being reviewed at Ministry of Commerce to firm up Pakistan’s views on it, an official told Dawn here on Wednesday.

Pakistan had signed its first transit agreement with the landlocked Afghanistan on March 2, 1965 to facilitate Afghan imports via Chaman-Spin Boldak and Torkhum-Jalalabad land routes.

Initially the agreement was signed for a period of five years with the option of further extension of similar tenure. Similarly, article 11 of the ATTA reads that the contracting parties will meet and consult each other once a year to review the working of the agreement.

But neither the agreement was extended for next term nor its revision could take place despite the lapse of almost four decades, the official said. “It is also one of the major reasons impending the growth of transit trade between South Asia and Central Asian Republics,” he added.

The issue of reviewing the ATTA, making it in line with the current age requirements, had been taken up at Joint Economic Commission (JEC), comprising officials from the both sides, on many occasions.

As a result of those deliberations, the Afghan government had proposed a revised draft agreement on transit trade entitled Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Agreement (APTA), the official said.

The draft agreement was first received informally by Pakistan in April last; however, officially the Afghan side handed over the draft on 18 November to Pakistan’s Embassy in Kabul for revision.

The issue of new agreement was also discussed at length at the seventh session of JEC held at Kabul on November 25-26.

Head of the Pakistan’s technical delegation to the JEC informed their Afghan counterparts that the draft agreement was being reviewed by Ministry of Commerce and after seeking approval from federal cabinet, the draft would be negotiated between the two governments, the official said, while citing the proceedings of the JEC.

At the JEC, it was decided that both the governments would form a joint working group, which would meet in Islamabad and Kabul, alternately to finalise the agreement, the official added.

“The composition of the proposed working group will be notified within one month period by the both countries, as Pakistan will host the first meeting at Islamabad in January next year on the sidelines of forthcoming Regional Economic Cooperation Conference,” the official said.