Exports to Pakistan reached $201m in first quarter: Ministry

KABUL (TOLOnews): The Ministry of Industry and Commerce said that exports from Afghanistan to Pakistan were worth $201 million in the first three months of the ongoing solar year.
The spokesman for the MoIC, Akhundzada Abdul Salam, said that fresh fruits, carpets, cotton and coal are the main exported products to the neighboring country.
“The majority of products exported to Pakistan were coal, cotton, beans, stones, carpets and fresh fruits. Our imports from Pakistan were rice, cement and clothes,” he said.
In the meantime, the Afghanistan-Pakistan Joint Chamber of Commerce voiced concern about the reduction of imports from Pakistan.
The head of the Afghanistan-Pakistan Joint Chamber of Commerce, Naqibullah Safi, called banking challenges, transport and problems in issuance of visas as well as financial crisis as the main reason for the drop in imports from Pakistan.
“There are some reasons which had positive and negative impacts on the trade exchanges. The trade rate between the two countries currently is on a balance,” he said.
This comes as some traders expressed concerns about the challenges in custom offices.
“There is a need for bilateral agreement between Afghanistan and Pakistan so we can have easy access to customs affairs,” said Omid Haidari, a trader.
“The car tariffs should be completed on time on both sides of the borders between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The custom offices should be active 24 hours,” said Ajmal Safi, a trader.
Based on the statistics of the MoIC, products worth $150 million have been exported to other regional countries in the first quarter of the year.