Iran-Pakistan-Afghan Trade Talks To Be Held Early Next Month

Islamabad, Jan 20, IRNA – Commerce ministers of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan will meet in Islamabad early next month to outline steps for enhancing economic cooperation, diplomat has said. The talks, which were scheduled to be held in Islamabad on January 18-19, had been put off because of the political situation of Pakistan. “Pakistan has now proposed new dates of February 10-11 for the trilateral meeting,” an Afghan official in Islamabad told IRNA. The meeting will take place in the backdrop of a trilateral summit held in Islamabad in February last year where President Asif Ali Zardari, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Afghan President Hamid Karzai asked their commerce ministers to prioritize cooperation for the sake of socioeconomic development in the region. Commerce ministers of the three countries will outline steps for enhancing economic cooperation, a critical step for the three neighboring countries aimed at powering their economies, the officials say. Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran have underscored the need for increasing trade with the help of facilitation measures‚ including preferential tariff and free trade arrangements as well as barter trade. Afghan Commerce Minister Dr Anwarul Haq Ahadi and Iranian Trade Minister Mehdi Ghazanfari will take part in the deliberations. The ministers will discuss possibilities of increasing the trade volume and how to facilitate traders and remove bottlenecks in the way of commerce. They will review proposals for expanding transit trade and encouraging private sector investment. Proposals for preferential tariff, free trade and barter trade will also come under discussion. The trilateral summit had also tasked the ministers with discussing measures to enhance connectivity by promoting cooperation in projects related to infrastructure, road and rail links, transport and communications. The meeting will pave the way for cooperation in energy, mining and minerals, agriculture and other sectors./end