Traders seek free trade agreements with CARs, Afghanistan

PESHAWAR: The business community and traders of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have sought Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with the Central Asian Republics of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as Afghan traders re-export Pakistani products to these regions that costs heavily to the local industry, trade and national exchequer.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KPCCI) in its proposals to the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Coordination Authority (APTTCA), reviewing the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA), pointed out that due to absence of free trade agreement with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the Afghan traders re-export the Pakistani products to these regions.
It asked the government to conclude trade agreements with these countries along with Afghanistan that would help recapture the transit business that has now mostly shifted to the Bandar Abbas port in Iran.
Furthermore, it said that on the line of India that signed FTA with Nepal before signing the transit trade agreement, an FTA with Afghanistan should also be ensured as Pakistan has already signed APTTA with its neighbour.
The KPCCI has also sought abolition of the negative list under the APTTA, saying a negative list for transit trade containing cigarette and auto parts could not help control smuggling of these goods into the country.
It proposed that the shipping companies in Iran accept postdated cheques as a guarantee for container, but in Pakistan they ask for cash guarantee which is a burden on transit traders. These cash guarantees are deposited in fixed account by the shipping companies to earn profit. Instead of cash guarantee, the shipping companies in Pakistan should allow insurance guarantee that will drastically reduce the cost.
It said that as per international standard the transit consignments should be cleared in 72 hours but presently in Pakistan it took more than a week.The business community wanted regularisation of the examination of transit goods proposing that without credible information duly recorded on the file, there should be no examination.
It added that the APTTA provided exemption from examination to only five percent goods, but in Pakistan, without gratification, it was always 100 percent. It informed that scanners are installed, but the same are of no use, as 100 percent physical examination is carried out.
There is no instance of missing of containers in Bandar Abbas where foolproof arrangements are in place to check the Bill of Lading and containers before release and containers are not detained for the purpose of gratification in that country.
In Pakistan, the KPCCI said “Jawaz” (Afghan Trade Licence) are demanded from the clearing agents and on a small grammatical mistake or error, the containers are detained. The theft and loss of goods cases are frequently reported and are very common and instead of bonded carriers (private truckers), the clearing agents are always made responsible, charter of proposals of the KPCCI said.
It said the Pakistan Railway was recovering with the arrival of new locomotives from China and it should now line up adequate wagons on Karachi-Peshawar and Karachi-Chaman routes for transit trade cargo as these routes have potential to provide around 300 to 500 wagons cargo to Pakistan Railways per week which will annually generate Rs12 to Rs15 billion revenue for the RP only from the Afghan transit trade.