Trade problems between Afghanistan, Pakistan should find lasting solution

Both the Afghan people and the country’s traders are still bearing the burden of political challenges imposed by the Pakistani authorities.
Sine one and a half months, Pakistan has imposed restrictions on the Afghan transit goods in Karachi port, where hundreds of containers packed with the Afghan merchants’ commodities are stopped.
The recent visit of the Minister of Commerce and Industry of the Islamic Emirate, Nooruddin Azizi to Pakistan has mostly focused on the continued blockage of the Afghan commodities in Pakistan.
As, the spokesman of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce asserted, a delegation of the Islamic Emirate in a bilateral meeting with Pakistani officials reached an agreement on the transfer of Afghan transit goods in the port of Karachi.
In the presence of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Pakistan, it was agreed that the transit goods of Afghan businessmen stopped at the port of Karachi should be released and according to the Afghanistan-Pakistan Joint Chamber of Commerce, in the first step, only containers stuck in Karachi port will be allowed to move, while in the future, other issues, including the new situation and conditions will be discussed.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan also confirmed that the bilateral meeting between the officials of that country with a delegation from the “current government of Afghanistan” have also addressed facilitating the trade and transit sectors.
“In the meeting, discussions about investment in the private and public sector, transit, trade at crossings, and preventing obstacles in the trade sector were discussed,” said Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch.
Afghan merchants have suffered heavy losses of millions of dollars due to continued restrictions from the Pakistani officials on their merchandise.
According to a credible report from the two countries joint chambers of commerce, Afghan merchants suffered more than twenty million dollars that caused hike of prices in the country.
So, the the problem should be solved permanently and the two countries should try their best not to take business and economic issues out of political means.