Khurram Dastgir, Pervaiz Khattak arrive in Kabul on separate visits

KABUL: The flurry of visits by the Pakistan government functionaries to Afghanistan is continuing as federal Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak separately reached the Afghan capital Tuesday for a series of meetings.
The commerce minister was accompanied by Muhammad Shehzad Arbab, secretary of the ministry, and another official. He held meeting with his Afghan counterpart, Daud Saba, and other Afghan officials.
Khurram Dastgir Khan told reporters at the Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul that he would be meeting Afghanistan’s President Dr Ashraf Ghani and other officials to discuss trade relations between the two neighbouring countries and consider measures to promote business activities in the region.
The minister also inaugurated a three-day exhibition of Pakistani products in Kabul. A range of Pakistani goods were put on display.
Afghanistan is Pakistan’s biggest trade partner. The $2.5 billion trade between the two countries is largely in favour of Pakistan. The two governments have pledged to increase the volume of bilateral trade to $5 billion in the next few years. The informal trade through smuggling across their long and porous border is also huge and estimated at more than $2.5 billion.
Meanwhile, KP Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak flew to Kabul Tuesday afternoon at the head of a delegation to begin a two-day visit on the invitation of President Ashraf Ghani. His delegation had more than 20 members and included provincial minister Ziaullah Afridi, chief minister’s adviser Amjad Afridi and the chief minister’s special assistants Ishtiaq Urmar and Abdul Monem Khan, PML-N’s parliamentary party leader in KP Assembly Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Mohsin Aziz and KP Chamber of Commerce and Industries President Fuad Ishaq. Several administrative secretaries and senior civil servants and a media team also accompanied the chief minister.
The delegation held a meeting with Dr Abdullah, Afghanistan’s chief executive officer, in the evening. Several aides and advisors to Dr Abdullah also attended the meeting. The two sides felt Afghanistan and Pakistan should take advantage of the unprecedented opportunity that has emerged to overcome distrust in their relations for helping each other to restore peace and strengthen their relations.
Later, a former mujahideen leader and former governor of Kabul province, Haji Din Mohammad and Mohammad Akram Khpalwak, adviser to President Ashraf Ghani, hosted a dinner in the honour of Pervaiz Khattak and his delegation at the Presidential Palace, Arg. A number of Afghan ministers, advisors, MPs, provincial governors, tribal elders, traders, educationists and media figures attended the dinner. Haji Din Mohammad and Pervaiz Khattak in their speeches highlighted their keenness to improve Pak-Afghan relations in all walks of life.