March 05, 2007
Will fencing of border affect Afghan trade?
By Syed Fazl-e-Haider
PAKISTAN intends to seal its 1,510-mile long border with Afghanistan by building fences and planting booby traps. Special computerised cards will be issued to traders who cross this border at Chaman (Balochistan) for business purposes. Some 6,000 Pakistani traders, in Chaman, have been given such cards. The question is: how will fencing and mining of the border affect the Afghan trade?
Tribes living in border towns think that issuing cards or mining and fencing the border is not going to solve the problem of cross-border infiltration by militants , rather it will create problems for the common man. Afghanistanââ¬â¢s President Hamid Karzai has also criticised the plan saying it would erect a wall between families and create difficulties for traders. .
Afghanistan foreign trade is mainly conducted through import-export from third countries via ports in Pakistan or Iran, as well as to a lesser degree via the Central Asian republics. There is almost no transit trade through Afghanistan. Being a landlocked country, Afghanistan needs an export outlet. She is largely dependent on Pakistan for its trade which has been providing transit trade facility to it under the Afghan Transit Trade Agreement (ATT) signed in 1965.
Geographically, Afghanistan forms a land bridge between South Asia and Central Asia and the opening of its borders and rebuilding efforts can provide new trade opportunities for the region. By virtue of its geo-strategic location, Afghanistan can manage to be a trade hub connecting the Middle East, Central Asia and Europe.
Under Karzai, Afghan trade has taken a new direction as Afghan authorities have reached trade deals with Iran, India and the Central Asian states ââ¬â all of which grant major concessions to Afghan goods. Efforts have been made to reduce dependence on Pakistan which has been Afghanistanââ¬â¢s principal trading partner and entry port for imports and exports.
The ATT facility was misused in the past that resulted in flooding of local markets with imported goods as tyres, electronic equipments, black tea and home appliances. These items meant for Afghanistan were diverted to Pakistan. This caused a revenue loss to Pakistan of Rs1.5 million annually.
Ultimately, Islamabad placed 24 items on the ATT negative list in two phasesââ¬â17 in 1996 and other seven in 2001. The black tea, tyre, television set, air conditioner, VCR were included in the list.
In July 2005, Kabul sought a number of facilities from Pakistan under the bilateral ATT agreement and also requested Islamabad to allow the private sector to lift cargo from Karachi Port. Only Pakistan Railways was transporting Afghan transit cargo from the ports of Karachi to Peshawar and Chaman. Kabul had requested the arrangements to be made for clearance of Afghan transit goods at Karachi ports 24 hours and seven days a week.
It also requested that warehouses be constructed at Port Qasim for perishable goods imported under ATT. A lot of commercial and non-commercial cargo comprising food, medicines, chemicals and other perishable items from Afghanistan are off-loaded at Port Qasim, which lack the proper storage facilities.
What causes Afghanistan to lag behind other regional states is its distance from world markets, weak investment laws, lack of private sector investment, and absence of key services such as banking, finance, and telecommunications. Presently, it faces several constraints in boosting trade. Besides, inadequate physical infrastructure such as link roads, ports, and border crossings, other constraints include customs issues, trade policies, permits, visa regulations, and endemic corruption.
The war-torn Afghanistan needs regional cooperation in its reconstruction efforts from the private sector. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has committed to help improve the environment for international trade and transit in Afghanistan through a grant of $1.2 million to enhance the government's handling of customs and trade facilitation. The ministry of finance is the executing agency for the TA which is due for completion around March 2009.
Pakistan has allocated $100million as grant assistance towards reconstruction and rehabilitation of Afghanistan out of which $33million have already been disbursed. During his visit to Afghanistan in September last year Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz inaugurated the 75km long dual lane Torkham-Jalalabad road reconstructed at a cost of Rs2 billion linking Pakistan with the Central Asian Republics, through Afghanistan. Pakistan would also help Afghanistan to complete the project of extending railway line from Chaman to Spin Boldak.
The Jalalabad -Torkham Road with traffic of around 14,000 vehicles a day would be linked with the Grand Trunk Road and the Motorway through a four-lane 45 km long Peshawar-Torkham Expressway. The other projects include; a kidney centre in Jalalabad and Arts Faculty at Kabul University.
http://www.dawn.com/2007/03/05/ebr12.htm
Will fencing of border affect Afghan trade?
By Syed Fazl-e-Haider
PAKISTAN intends to seal its 1,510-mile long border with Afghanistan by building fences and planting booby traps. Special computerised cards will be issued to traders who cross this border at Chaman (Balochistan) for business purposes. Some 6,000 Pakistani traders, in Chaman, have been given such cards. The question is: how will fencing and mining of the border affect the Afghan trade?
Tribes living in border towns think that issuing cards or mining and fencing the border is not going to solve the problem of cross-border infiltration by militants , rather it will create problems for the common man. Afghanistanââ¬â¢s President Hamid Karzai has also criticised the plan saying it would erect a wall between families and create difficulties for traders. .
Afghanistan foreign trade is mainly conducted through import-export from third countries via ports in Pakistan or Iran, as well as to a lesser degree via the Central Asian republics. There is almost no transit trade through Afghanistan. Being a landlocked country, Afghanistan needs an export outlet. She is largely dependent on Pakistan for its trade which has been providing transit trade facility to it under the Afghan Transit Trade Agreement (ATT) signed in 1965.
Geographically, Afghanistan forms a land bridge between South Asia and Central Asia and the opening of its borders and rebuilding efforts can provide new trade opportunities for the region. By virtue of its geo-strategic location, Afghanistan can manage to be a trade hub connecting the Middle East, Central Asia and Europe.
Under Karzai, Afghan trade has taken a new direction as Afghan authorities have reached trade deals with Iran, India and the Central Asian states ââ¬â all of which grant major concessions to Afghan goods. Efforts have been made to reduce dependence on Pakistan which has been Afghanistanââ¬â¢s principal trading partner and entry port for imports and exports.
The ATT facility was misused in the past that resulted in flooding of local markets with imported goods as tyres, electronic equipments, black tea and home appliances. These items meant for Afghanistan were diverted to Pakistan. This caused a revenue loss to Pakistan of Rs1.5 million annually.
Ultimately, Islamabad placed 24 items on the ATT negative list in two phasesââ¬â17 in 1996 and other seven in 2001. The black tea, tyre, television set, air conditioner, VCR were included in the list.
In July 2005, Kabul sought a number of facilities from Pakistan under the bilateral ATT agreement and also requested Islamabad to allow the private sector to lift cargo from Karachi Port. Only Pakistan Railways was transporting Afghan transit cargo from the ports of Karachi to Peshawar and Chaman. Kabul had requested the arrangements to be made for clearance of Afghan transit goods at Karachi ports 24 hours and seven days a week.
It also requested that warehouses be constructed at Port Qasim for perishable goods imported under ATT. A lot of commercial and non-commercial cargo comprising food, medicines, chemicals and other perishable items from Afghanistan are off-loaded at Port Qasim, which lack the proper storage facilities.
What causes Afghanistan to lag behind other regional states is its distance from world markets, weak investment laws, lack of private sector investment, and absence of key services such as banking, finance, and telecommunications. Presently, it faces several constraints in boosting trade. Besides, inadequate physical infrastructure such as link roads, ports, and border crossings, other constraints include customs issues, trade policies, permits, visa regulations, and endemic corruption.
The war-torn Afghanistan needs regional cooperation in its reconstruction efforts from the private sector. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has committed to help improve the environment for international trade and transit in Afghanistan through a grant of $1.2 million to enhance the government's handling of customs and trade facilitation. The ministry of finance is the executing agency for the TA which is due for completion around March 2009.
Pakistan has allocated $100million as grant assistance towards reconstruction and rehabilitation of Afghanistan out of which $33million have already been disbursed. During his visit to Afghanistan in September last year Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz inaugurated the 75km long dual lane Torkham-Jalalabad road reconstructed at a cost of Rs2 billion linking Pakistan with the Central Asian Republics, through Afghanistan. Pakistan would also help Afghanistan to complete the project of extending railway line from Chaman to Spin Boldak.
The Jalalabad -Torkham Road with traffic of around 14,000 vehicles a day would be linked with the Grand Trunk Road and the Motorway through a four-lane 45 km long Peshawar-Torkham Expressway. The other projects include; a kidney centre in Jalalabad and Arts Faculty at Kabul University.
http://www.dawn.com/2007/03/05/ebr12.htm
