ISLAMABAD, May 13: Pakistan and Afghanistan on Monday agreed to revive Afghan transit trade and to allow the unloading of goods at port Qasim and their transportation through NLC trucks to Afghanistan.

This was stated here at a joint news conference by Commerce Minister Abdul Razak Dawood and his Afghan counterpart Syed Mustafa Kazmi on the conclusion of first round of 5-day dialogue. Pakistan and Afghanistan also constituted a joint committee on construction of roads in the war-torn country.

The two ministers said they discussed three areas: trade, investment by Pakistanis in Afghanistan and private sector joint ventures of both the countries.

Mr Dawood said that Pakistan felt that closer economic ties were of immense importance to both the countries. Pakistan has agreed to open port Qasim, in addition to Karachi port, for Afghan goods, as Afghans were of the view that they were incurring heavy demurrages at Karachi port, he said.

He said Pakistan has also agreed to consider reducing freight rates for transportation of Afghan goods. He said these measures would facilitate rapid movement of goods to Afghanistan.

The Afghan minister Syed Mustafa Kazmi described the talks as very constructive, which focussed on issues of trade, investment and joint ventures. He appreciated the transit facilities being essential for land-locked Afghanistan.

He said that Afghan interim authority wanted Pakistani businessmen to take active part in reconstruction efforts of Afghanistan, and in fact chairman Hamid Karzai has directed all his cabinet colleagues to give preference to the Pakistani businessmen and contractors.

Razak Dawood said that on the request of Afghan side, Pakistan has agreed to look into modifications in tariff to facilitate import of dry fruits to boost agriculture in Afghanistan.

When asked about the guarantee that goods imported under Afghan transit trade agreement would not be smuggled back into Pakistan, Razak said they have assured to put up this matter before the interim cabinet and use all ways and means to reduce smuggling and quickly added that they appreciated what loss this subject was causing to Pakistani economy.

Regarding security of Pakistani businessmen, the Afghan minister said that despite 23 years of war sufficient amount of security was still available, and the interim authority has taken all available resources to provide security not only to Pakistani businessmen but also to investors of other countries.

He said that widespread support of Afghan people to the interim authority was in fact manifestation of security prevailing in that country.

On the question of tariff revisions, the two sides would sit together on Tuesday to work out details.

Meanwhile, Pakistan and Afghanistan also constituted a joint committee for the construction of highways in Afghanistan particularly Torkhum-Kabul highway and Kandahar-Herat highway.

The committee comprised federal secretary Iftikhar Rashid, chairman national highway authority Maj. Gen Farrukh Javed and other experts from the Pakistani side and governor of Kandahar Haji Gul Agha, Charge d’affaires of Afghan Embassy Rahmatullah Musa, Syed Malook Fakhar, Engineer Pushtoon and Jamal Shajan from the Afghan side.

The committee was constituted when the Afghan trade delegation that also included minister for public works Abdul Khaliq Fazal held talks with communications minister Javed Ashraf Qazi.

The minister assured the visiting delegation that Pakistan will extend all possible cooperation to the world community with regard to reconstruction of Afghanistan.

He said Pakistan will provide all technical assistance to Afghanistan for establishment of communication infrastructure and desired establishment of road as well as rail links with Afghanistan.

He said that Pakistan will provide all kinds of cooperation according to proposals put forth by the Afghan government for reconstruction.