PESHAWAR, Feb 21: Federal finance minister Shaukat Aziz has said that Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan have agreed to mutual cooperation to control the growing menace of smuggling and take stringent measures to help their economies grow in the right direction.

He said that in a recently held meeting his Afghan and Iranian counterparts the three countries agreed to effectively take on the problem of smuggling to protect their national economies from the crippling effects of the illegal trade.

Afghanistan had started levying duties on the import of goods and Iran would impose ban on the import of right-hand vehicles via the Bandar Abbas port.

"You (businessmen) may not like it, but it is the case that Iran would ban on the import of right-hand vehicles from the Bandar Abbas port," said Mr Shaukat Aziz while addressing members of the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) here on Saturday.

He said Iranian government was compelled to take the decision because large number of non-duty paidright-hand vehicles meant for Afghanistan were finding their way back in Iran, as had been the case with Pakistan.

The Iranian government's decision, he maintained, would also help Pakistan which had been unable, for years, to effectively tackle the menace of non-duty paid vehicles.

Apart from that, he added, Afghanistan would establish an export free zone at Jalalabad in an effort to facilitate the business community of Pakistan.

He asked the exporters of Frontier and businessmen to come forward and take advantage of the growing business prospects in Afghanistan.

"Strong and stable Afghanistan is critical to Pakistan so as strong Afghan economy," said Mr Aziz, adding that "government of Pakistan has introduced several measures to help its businessmen take advantage of the growing markets in Afghanistan."

In this respect, he added, that several other customs points werebeing opened on the Pakistan-Afghanistanborderto facilitate the business community.

The Torkham and Chaman's points were over burdened to perform efficiently, hence, new points were being opened to facilitate growing trade between thetwo countries.

He said Pakistan exported goods worth US $ 600 million to Afghanistan during the last financial year. While the figure was likely to touch the $ one billion mark during the current financial year, he hoped.

He asked the SCCI members to take the initiative to make inroads in the Afghan markets. "It would not work any more, if you keep sitting idle," said Mr Aziz.

He added that in continuing with their initiative of arranging exhibition of their products in Kabul last year, similar shows should also be arranged at Kandahar and Hirat to introduce goods manufactured in NWFP to markets in Afghanistan.

"You have to take an aggressive view of the situation, potential is there," the minister added.

Underlying the future role of Peshawar, he said, it should be promoted as the hub of gems and jewellry keeping in view the amount of business taking place here.

"Peshawar has to be packaged and marketed in an effective manner and for this private sector would have to play an effective role," said Mr Aziz, asking the SCCI members "do not look towards the government, do it on your own".