Daily Times - Afghanistan insists on transit facility to India via Pakistan
* Issue has caused stalemate in concluding APTTA
By Sajid Chaudhry
ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan has again demanded allowing transit facility to India via Pakistani land route and this issue has caused a deadlock in concluding the Afghan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA), a senior government official informed on Saturday.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are likely to enter the final round of negotiations for conclusion of much awaited Afghan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) during the visit of US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to Kabul on July 20, official sources told.
The last round of negotiations on APTTA between Pakistan and Afghanistan held at Kabul recently failed due to the last moment denial from the Afghan side to accept Pakistan’s proposed measures for curbing cross border smuggling, official sources added.
Pakistan side firmly believes that until and unless Afghan side is ready to address the cross border smuggling issue, Pakistan would not be able to conclude the proposed APTTA, said the official.
Pakistan had proposed five measures for having an effective control over cross border smuggling including subjecting existing afghan imports with letter of credit, subjecting afghan imports with bank guarantee, compulsory licensing for afghan imports, placing quantitative restrictions on Afghan imports, maintaining increased sensitive list of items, and equalisation of customs tariff on items imported by afghan importers through transit facility via Pakistan to Afghanistan, official sources explained.
Afghan side has also not shown its willingness to accept the measures proposed by the Pakistani side for controlling the cross border smuggling due to the reasons. During the recently concluded negotiations on proposed APTTA, Afghan side was almost agreed to sign initial draft of the APTTA, however, in the next morning Afghan authorities refused to sign disclosed the official sources.
According to the Pakistan customs estimates, loss to the Pakistan’s economy due to the pilferage of Afghan transit trade goods in Pakistan and smuggling back to Pakistan goods imported under Afghan Transit Trade Agreement have been estimated at $5 billion annually. Similarly, smuggling of Pakistani goods to Afghanistan is causing Afghanistan a loss of around $1.5 billion. Pakistan has been striving to establish a fact before the Afghan side that cross border smuggling of goods is causing huge injury to both the economies and both the countries must agree to a mechanism for eliminating this menace once for all under the proposed APTTA.
Necessary steps must also be taken to prevent smuggling. APTTA is already a major source of smuggling into Pakistan. It causes huge revenue losses to the economy, hurting local businesses.
The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance was told a few months ago that the APTTA accounts for 75 percent of an estimated $5 billion worth of smuggled goods entering Pakistan annually. Many of the items imported under APTTA, are not even meant for the Afghan market. For example, Afghans prefer to drink green tea and not its black variety, yet large quantities of black tea are imported for eventual smuggling into Pakistan. An FBR official told the Standing Committee that following an increase in the valuation of stainless steel in the recent past, steel imports under the APTTA doubled during the July-December period in the current fiscal year, as compared with the previous year.
The imports also include a large variety of electronic equipment, cosmetics and other items that are turned back from the border to be sold in Pakistani markets, at the cost of the local businesses. Islamabad has been trying to deal with these problems by imposing a ban on the import of certain items, and through a common customs duty proposal (albeit without success by far). The Quetta and Chaman business people have given a timely warning of similar issues cropping up, if and when the Wagah-Khyber trade route opens up; the government must also remain prepared to address them in a timely fashion.
* Issue has caused stalemate in concluding APTTA
By Sajid Chaudhry
ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan has again demanded allowing transit facility to India via Pakistani land route and this issue has caused a deadlock in concluding the Afghan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA), a senior government official informed on Saturday.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are likely to enter the final round of negotiations for conclusion of much awaited Afghan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) during the visit of US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to Kabul on July 20, official sources told.
The last round of negotiations on APTTA between Pakistan and Afghanistan held at Kabul recently failed due to the last moment denial from the Afghan side to accept Pakistan’s proposed measures for curbing cross border smuggling, official sources added.
Pakistan side firmly believes that until and unless Afghan side is ready to address the cross border smuggling issue, Pakistan would not be able to conclude the proposed APTTA, said the official.
Pakistan had proposed five measures for having an effective control over cross border smuggling including subjecting existing afghan imports with letter of credit, subjecting afghan imports with bank guarantee, compulsory licensing for afghan imports, placing quantitative restrictions on Afghan imports, maintaining increased sensitive list of items, and equalisation of customs tariff on items imported by afghan importers through transit facility via Pakistan to Afghanistan, official sources explained.
Afghan side has also not shown its willingness to accept the measures proposed by the Pakistani side for controlling the cross border smuggling due to the reasons. During the recently concluded negotiations on proposed APTTA, Afghan side was almost agreed to sign initial draft of the APTTA, however, in the next morning Afghan authorities refused to sign disclosed the official sources.
According to the Pakistan customs estimates, loss to the Pakistan’s economy due to the pilferage of Afghan transit trade goods in Pakistan and smuggling back to Pakistan goods imported under Afghan Transit Trade Agreement have been estimated at $5 billion annually. Similarly, smuggling of Pakistani goods to Afghanistan is causing Afghanistan a loss of around $1.5 billion. Pakistan has been striving to establish a fact before the Afghan side that cross border smuggling of goods is causing huge injury to both the economies and both the countries must agree to a mechanism for eliminating this menace once for all under the proposed APTTA.
Necessary steps must also be taken to prevent smuggling. APTTA is already a major source of smuggling into Pakistan. It causes huge revenue losses to the economy, hurting local businesses.
The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance was told a few months ago that the APTTA accounts for 75 percent of an estimated $5 billion worth of smuggled goods entering Pakistan annually. Many of the items imported under APTTA, are not even meant for the Afghan market. For example, Afghans prefer to drink green tea and not its black variety, yet large quantities of black tea are imported for eventual smuggling into Pakistan. An FBR official told the Standing Committee that following an increase in the valuation of stainless steel in the recent past, steel imports under the APTTA doubled during the July-December period in the current fiscal year, as compared with the previous year.
The imports also include a large variety of electronic equipment, cosmetics and other items that are turned back from the border to be sold in Pakistani markets, at the cost of the local businesses. Islamabad has been trying to deal with these problems by imposing a ban on the import of certain items, and through a common customs duty proposal (albeit without success by far). The Quetta and Chaman business people have given a timely warning of similar issues cropping up, if and when the Wagah-Khyber trade route opens up; the government must also remain prepared to address them in a timely fashion.
