ISLAMABAD, July 25: Afghanistan has asked Pakistan to allow the licensed private “bonded carriers” in addition to Pakistan Railways to transport Afghan cargo from Karachi ports and Quetta/Chaman.

According to the minutes of the 5th session of Pakistan-Afghan Joint Economic Commission (JEC) held on July 23-24 in Kabul, copy of which was also made available to Dawn, the Afghan government sought a number of facilities from Pakistan under bilateral trade and Afghan Transit Trade Agreement.

The Pakistani side at the meeting, led by Secretary Economic Affairs Division (EAD) Khalid Saeed, assured to sympathetically look into the fresh requests of the Afghan government. In some cases, the requests of the Karzai government on various issues were instantly accepted. The Afghan side was led by Deputy Minister of Finance Asad Sakhi Farhad.

Currently, the Afghan side said, only Pakistan Railways was transporting Afghan transit cargo from the ports of Karachi to Peshawar and Chamman. However, due to increasing volume of workload, Pakistan’s Railways was finding it difficult to effectively handle the transportation. Therefore, the Afghan side requested Pakistan government to allow the private sector too to lift cargo from Karachi ports.

Mr Farhad requested that arrangements should be made for clearance of Afghan transit goods at Karachi ports 24 hours and seven days a week.

The Afghan representative stated that a lot of Afghan commercial and non-commercial cargo comprising food, medicines, chemicals and other perishable items were off-loaded at Port Qasim, where there were no proper storage facilities for such goods.

He requested that warehouses/sheds should be constructed at Port Qasim for perishable goods imported under the ATT.

Mr Khalid Saeed agreed to the proposal and said that he would work out the details of the issue by taking up the matter with the relevant authorities in Pakistan.

The Afghan side further requested that the customs stations at Torkham and Spin Boldak should be electronically linked with the central computers at Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta for retrieving Afghan transit data and also data of exports made to Afghanistan.

Mr Asad Sakhi Farhad appreciated that the customs examination of Afghan cargo had been discontinued at Karachi. However, he added that it would be further appreciated if similar arrangements were made at Peshawar dry port and Quetta/ Chaman and the Afghan cargo was exempted from customs examinations at these places.

According to him, this measure would reduce the dwell time and would also save the goods from getting damaged.

The Afghan delegation also proposed that suitable amendment be made through the good offices of the ministries of commerce of both the countries, in the Pak-Afghan Transit Trade Agreement 1965 for abolishing Afghan Transit Trade Invoice (ATTI). It added that after the introduction of the customs of “Goods Declaration” in Pakistan for clearance of Afghan transit cargo at Karachi, the need for ATTI no longer exists.

The Pakistani side agreed that they would refer the matter to the ministry of commerce for vetting and necessary action in consultation with the Afghan ministry of commerce.

The Afghan delegation said that the Afghan trucks should be allowed on reciprocal basis to free pass through the territory of Pakistan as Pakistani trucks were allowed within Afghanistan.

The Pakistani side responding to the request said that this proposal needed to be examined in Pakistan in consultation with the stakeholders. The Afghan side said that Afghan trucks be allowed to load the Afghan transit cargo from the ports of Pakistan for transporting it inside Afghanistan.