ISLAMABAD, Nov 12: A delegation of tax officials will leave for Kabul later this month to negotiate the withdrawal of remaining six items from the negative list of the Afghan Transit Trade (ATT).

An official told Dawn on Friday that the decision was taken in the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) meeting headed by the prime minister recently. The prime minister directed the Central Board of Revenue to send an official delegation to Kabul to discuss various proposals for abolishing of negative list in order to ensure that these items would not be smuggled back into Pakistan.

The CBR has recommended to the government to ask the Afghan government to raise import duty on these items equivalent to that charged on import of these goods in Pakistan so that they could become less attractive for smuggling.

The items to be considered for withdrawal included cigarillos and cigarettes of tobacco or of tobacco substitutes, dyes and chemicals, cooking oil, tyres and tubes, soap, auto parts (all sorts), and telephone sets. The tax officials were collecting around Rs6-8 billion revenue from these items annually.