PESHAWAR, April 24: The leaders of business community of Pakistan and Afghanistan have decided to hold a joint meeting in Kabul for discussing different issues confronting them and removing obstacles to the two-way trade. Besides, they stressed that both the countries should take prompt steps for enhancing bilateral trade.
The issues related to promotion of trade between the two countries were discussed during a meeting between the leaders of Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Nangarhar Chamber of Commerce and Industry at the SCCI here on Tuesday.
The four-member delegation of Nangarhar Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) was led by Najeebullah Sahibzada, while SCCI vice-president Ziaul Haq Sarhadi led his side at the meeting.
The NCCI delegation expressed grave concern over the alleged supply of spurious medicines to Afghanistan and suggested establishment of a joint quality control board to stop such illegal practices.
Other members of the NCCI team included Haji Ahmed Shah, Ghulam Haider and Mohammad Zaman, while SCCI executive member Mohammad Iqbal and other officials present on the occasion also took part in the discussion. The issues pertaining to transportation of goods between the two countries also came under discussion.
Mr Sarhadi praised the leadership of both the chambers for the establishment of joint Pak-Afghan Chamber and expressed the hope that it could play an important role in resolving problems confronting traders on both sides of the border.
He said that the Pak-Afghan Chamber meeting would be held in Kabul to discuss different issues confronting traders of the both countries and sort out a long-term solution for removing obstacles in way of trade. He said that both the countries would take prompt steps for enhancing bilateral trade.
Mr Najeebullah said during the meeting that certain pharmaceutical manufacturing industries had been illegally exporting their products to Afghanistan because of which the image of reputable Pakistani companies was at stake. He said that this tendency should be stopped through joint efforts of the traders, as this had been creating different problems for owners of reputable companies.
He suggested that the Nangarhar chamber would provide a list of genuine owners of companies to the SCCI to encourage them and to take effective steps for controlling illegal supply of medicines to Afghanistan. He asked the SCCI to send a team of specialists to Afghanistan.
The participants said that owing to the current situation both the countries had suffered a lot and there was a need for mutual cooperation to benefit the economy of both the countries.