Pak-Afghan trade deal signed

[GUNNER]

Pak-Afghan trade deal signed

KABUL: In a positive development in relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, the two countries signed the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) in Kabul on Thursday.

Trade Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim was representing Pakistan whereas his Afghan counterpart signed the deal for Afghanistan.

In return of allowing India-Afghan trade, Pakistan will have access to Central Asian Republics (CAR) through Afghanistan.

The signing of this transit trade agreement will give Afghan export consignments for India access up to the Wagah border.

Afghan trucks with export items for India will be allowed to drive through the country to Karachi.

The deal, however, doesn’t allow India a trade corridor through Pakistan to Afghanistan.

The trade between India and Afghanistan through sea routes will, however, continue to take place under the previous arrangement.

Earlier this month, Pakistan’s federal cabinet approved the trade agreement, but kept its scope restricted by disallowing the transport of Indian export goods to the war-torn country through its lands.

The government had said that Indian containers of export items for Afghanistan would not be allowed to enter through Wagah border
The deal should bolster Pakistan exports to Afghanistan and Central Asia.

Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira told the media after the cabinet meeting that Pakistan would be the ultimate winner of this agreement.

Kaira said it would largely help Pakistani manufacturers and exporters and the country was expected to earn up to $2 billion foreign exchange through this arrangement. “It is going to be a very significant facility for our manufacturers and exporters.”



Pak-Afghan trade deal signed – The Express Tribune

 

[Hyde]

thats what I call a business deal
Pakistan just need to make sure that the goods going to Afghanistan from India are not arms to support insurgencies and rest is okk

Also as per my knowledge the goods can only be exported to Afghanistan and not further beyond the boundaries of Afghanistan in CAR countries

Its all good in this sense as all three nations (Pakistan, India and Afghanistan) will prosper and the prices of the basic products will become cheaper as the demand rises

 

[mjnaushad]

Trucks can Go to Wahga but cannot come from wahga....If India want to send goods to Afghanistan it will have to goto Port Qasim.

 

[Rig Vedic]

Pakistan blocks Afghan wheat; will be sent via Chabahar

Afghanistan seeks bids for transport of Indian wheat. The shipment has been stuck due to Pakistan’s ban on any exports to Afghanistan through the Wagah border

Utpal Bhaskar & Elizabeth Roche

The Afghan government has floated a tender for the transport of wheat promised by India as a goodwill gesture in January 2009 to the war-ravaged country.

The shipment was stuck in India due to Islamabad’s ban on any exports to Afghanistan through the Wagah border.

According to the tender floated by the Afghan government’s commerce and industry ministry for 100,000 tonnes of wheat, the last date for the request for proposal is 27 November. The wheat is to reach Mazar-Sharif, Afghanistan.

“The tender is for the first phase where we want to urgently transport one lakh tonnes during winter and spring to fulfil our needs. The next phase will follow,” said A. Munir Khan, a commercial counsellor at the Afghan embassy in Delhi. “The two routes that can be followed are through Iran, (the) Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. This will connect Iran’s Chabahar port with Kandla in Gujarat. The other option is to follow the Bandar Abbas (Iran)-Herat route.”

India has invested $1.3 billion (`5,928 crore) in rebuilding Afghanistan and views the country as key to its strategic interests, not least because it is situated at the crossroads between South Asia and energy-rich Central Asia.

Mint had reported on Tuesday that 250,000 tonnes of grain is yet to leave Indian shores, with Afghanistan unable to arrange for transport and storage. In July, Pakistan and Afghanistan signed a trade and transit pact, allowing the Afghan government to send trucks laden with goods to India through Pakistan. But the pact does not allow trucks from Afghanistan to return with Indian goods through Pakistan.
“It shows India’s commitment to Afghanistan. It also shows up the intransigence of the Pakistani establishment in not allowing the wheat shipment to go when it has such a clear humanitarian dimension. It’s deplorable,” said Uday Bhaskar, a security analyst and head of the National Maritime Foundation.

India had announced it would make the free wheat available to Afghanistan during President Hamid Karzai’s visit to New Delhi in January 2009. The consignment was to be delivered at Wagah, on the India-Pakistan border.

The earlier plan was to transport wheat through an alternative shipping route that was to pass through Iran, the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea and would have connected Iran’s Chabahar port with Kandla in Gujarat. Once this route is made fully operational, experts say, it could also give India easier access to energy-rich Central Asian nations.

The Chabahar port is expected to play a crucial role in India’s quest for energy security as this will give it access to the oil and gas resources in West and Central Asia. While Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have considerable hydrocarbon reserves, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have large hydropower potential.

While goods currently transported to Afghanistan from India follow the Mumbai-Bandar Abbas-Herat route, the new route will shorten the travel time to only one week. The wheat, after it is shipped from Kandla to Chabahar port, can be transported through Iranian roads to the Zaranj-Delaram highway in Afghanistan. The 218km road link connecting Delaram with Zaranj, which is adjacent to Iran’s border, was built by India.

Currently, only 6% of land in Afghanistan is under cultivation, although 15% is suitable for farming. Wheat and cotton are the most important crops; the country also grows barley, corn and rice. Fruit and nuts are among Afghanistan’s most important exports.
utpal.b@livemint.com

Afghanistan seeks bids for transport of Indian wheat - Home - livemint.com

 

[PakSher]

Pakistan blocks Afghan wheat; will be sent via Chabahar

Afghanistan seeks bids for transport of Indian wheat. The shipment has been stuck due to Pakistan’s ban on any exports to Afghanistan through the Wagah border

Utpal Bhaskar & Elizabeth Roche

The Afghan government has floated a tender for the transport of wheat promised by India as a goodwill gesture in January 2009 to the war-ravaged country.

The shipment was stuck in India due to Islamabad’s ban on any exports to Afghanistan through the Wagah border.

According to the tender floated by the Afghan government’s commerce and industry ministry for 100,000 tonnes of wheat, the last date for the request for proposal is 27 November. The wheat is to reach Mazar-Sharif, Afghanistan.

“The tender is for the first phase where we want to urgently transport one lakh tonnes during winter and spring to fulfil our needs. The next phase will follow,” said A. Munir Khan, a commercial counsellor at the Afghan embassy in Delhi. “The two routes that can be followed are through Iran, (the) Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. This will connect Iran’s Chabahar port with Kandla in Gujarat. The other option is to follow the Bandar Abbas (Iran)-Herat route.”

India has invested $1.3 billion (`5,928 crore) in rebuilding Afghanistan and views the country as key to its strategic interests, not least because it is situated at the crossroads between South Asia and energy-rich Central Asia.

Mint had reported on Tuesday that 250,000 tonnes of grain is yet to leave Indian shores, with Afghanistan unable to arrange for transport and storage. In July, Pakistan and Afghanistan signed a trade and transit pact, allowing the Afghan government to send trucks laden with goods to India through Pakistan. But the pact does not allow trucks from Afghanistan to return with Indian goods through Pakistan.
“It shows India’s commitment to Afghanistan. It also shows up the intransigence of the Pakistani establishment in not allowing the wheat shipment to go when it has such a clear humanitarian dimension. It’s deplorable,” said Uday Bhaskar, a security analyst and head of the National Maritime Foundation.

India had announced it would make the free wheat available to Afghanistan during President Hamid Karzai’s visit to New Delhi in January 2009. The consignment was to be delivered at Wagah, on the India-Pakistan border.

The earlier plan was to transport wheat through an alternative shipping route that was to pass through Iran, the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea and would have connected Iran’s Chabahar port with Kandla in Gujarat. Once this route is made fully operational, experts say, it could also give India easier access to energy-rich Central Asian nations.

The Chabahar port is expected to play a crucial role in India’s quest for energy security as this will give it access to the oil and gas resources in West and Central Asia. While Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have considerable hydrocarbon reserves, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have large hydropower potential.

While goods currently transported to Afghanistan from India follow the Mumbai-Bandar Abbas-Herat route, the new route will shorten the travel time to only one week. The wheat, after it is shipped from Kandla to Chabahar port, can be transported through Iranian roads to the Zaranj-Delaram highway in Afghanistan. The 218km road link connecting Delaram with Zaranj, which is adjacent to Iran’s border, was built by India.

Currently, only 6% of land in Afghanistan is under cultivation, although 15% is suitable for farming. Wheat and cotton are the most important crops; the country also grows barley, corn and rice. Fruit and nuts are among Afghanistan’s most important exports.
utpal.b@livemint.com

Afghanistan seeks bids for transport of Indian wheat - Home - livemint.com

It is not a matter of wheat. It will cost Pakistan a lot of money to off load every wheat container for spy and espionage equipment, ammunition, spy cameras etc, since India cannot be trusted, so for now no Indian goods through Pakistan. Only Afghan goods to India.

Like they say" It's my way or the highway".