Afghan Transit trade starts at Gwadar
Pakistan has started transit trade to Afghanistan via sea route by making the Gwadar port operational. Pakistan has activated the deep-water port of Gwadar, on the Arabian Sea, which offers a much shorter overland link, particularly to southern regions of Afghanistan, for the rapid delivery of goods. Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood has informed that a cargo ship carrying 16000 tonnes of urea for Transit to Afghanistan has arrived at Gwadar. This is the first time that the two countries will trade via sea route and fertilizers will be packed locally. Abdul Razak further said the local fertilizer bagging would contribute to the socio-economic development of locals as relevant authorities have been directed to allocate labour jobs only to the domestic people.
Pakistan’s commerce ministry operationalised the Gwadar Port for Afghan transit trade on Friday, marking a first in sea trade between the two countries.
The trade business has commenced under the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement-2010 (APTTA), authorities at the ministry informed.
In a series of tweets, Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razzak Dawood shared that a ship carrying 16,000 metric tonnes of urea and fertiliser for Afghanistan had arrived in Gwadar, beginning a new chapter of trade via sea route from the Gwadar Port to Afghanistan.
The adviser further added that it was for the first time that the fertiliser will be locally packed. He claimed that directives had also been issued to offer jobs and livelihoods to local labourers only.
The labourers are were said to engage in the packing of fertilisers, loading and offloading of the items in trucks.
Apart from fertilisers, Afghanistan will be granted permission for the transit trade of sugar and wheat from Gwadar, while trucks carrying fully sealed consignments will only be allowed to go to the neighboring country.
While this maybe a first in sea trade for the two countries, both Pakistan and Afghanistan have been engaged in continued trade transit through land routes as global trade activities witnessed a lull amid the pandemic.
Besides the movement of cargo, the two countries have also seen active repatriation of their citizens from the shared borders at Chaman and Torkham.
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