Saturday, January 16, 2016
Kabul (BNA) Members of Afghanistan and Pakistan joint chamber of commerce called on second vice president, discussing needs, problems and challenges of trade between the two countries.
In the meeting, second vice president Sarwar Danesh while pointing to importance of expansion of economic and trade relations between the two countries considered political stability and lasting security as main factor for boosting economic relations between the two countries, saying that no big regional projects would be completed without lasting stability and security.
He stressed that the role of traders and investors in expansion of political and economic relations between the two countries was not less than governments, adding that they should make effort to support and put pressure on their governments so that proper facilities to be provided for joint economic activities between the two countries. Considering economizing of diplomacy as important for expansion of political and economic relations between the two countries, Danesh said completing and making better use of big regional projects such as TAPI and KASA 1000 were possible by cooperation of regional countries in particular Afghanistan and Pakistan, adding that no incident could separate the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The second vice president expressed hope that the quadrilateral talks underway in Pakistan and Afghanistan would have big achievements for both countries. Pointing to recent developments in law-making, governance, stability and security, Danesh added that Afghanistan government has seriously adopted measures towards maintaining joint cooperation in economic, trade affairs and addressing current challenges and would stay beside chambers of commerce and industries of the two countries. In the meeting, deputy of Afghanistan and Pakistan joint chamber of commerce Khanjan Alokozay said UPTA needed to be reviewed so that current problems existed between the two countries in the past five years could be addressed, adding that the two countries should pay attention to solve bureaucracy creating problems for traders in both countries. Periodical head for Afghanistan and Pakistan joint chamber of commerce Zubair Motiwala while pointing to trade situation of Afghanistan and Pakistan said current trade between the two countries has reached to 2.5 billion USD and the amount would be two-fold only if the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan paid attention to addressing problems and improvement of the condition. In the meeting, members of Afghanistan and Pakistan joint chamber of commerce also enumerated their demands such as maintaining security for traders, standardizing of custom regulations and consideration to balance of custom tariffs.
