KHYBER: Trade activity has accelerated at the Torkham border crossing in recent months, despite a drop in pedestrian traffic owing to strict implementation of the Individual Voluntary Arrangement System.
According to sources at the Torkham border, Pak-Afghan trade has doubled in the previous three months and is expected to rise much more in the months ahead, much to the relief of the business sector, which has suffered losses since the Taliban took over Afghanistan last August.
They said that after Kabul fell to the Taliban, the number of vehicles transporting Pakistani commodities to Afghanistan via Torkham had dropped to only 80.
Most local exporters and importers, Mr. Shinwari said, had noticed an improvement in Pak-Afghan trade as the government offered them much-needed different methods and means to overcome the difficulties they had faced since August last year.
Importers’ severe bank deposit and remittance requirements had been eliminated, he claimed, although exporters were still allowed to buy some important commodities in Pakistani currency.
According to the exporter, these measures increased exports, bringing the number of loaded cars leaving Pakistan for Afghanistan to around 250 daily on certain days and 300 on others.
Another customs clearing agent, Iblan Ali, reported that building materials topped the list of exported commodities, followed by edibles.
Cement, paint, bathroom accessories, hardware, clothing, shoes, and other items, he added, were being exported in large quantities to Afghanistan.
Edible oil and ghee, grains, dairy goods, and fresh fruits and vegetables, according to the clearing agent, are in great demand in Afghanistan and are exported in large amounts.
Mussawir Khan, a young coal importer in Torkham, was happy about a recent surge in coal and soapstone imports from Afghanistan, estimating that 250-300 trucks or containers transporting the two commodities passed through the Torkham border every day.
While dried fruits were also imported in small quantities during the current months of the year, he predicted that Afghan fresh fruits and vegetables will begin to arrive during the high summer months, boosting bilateral trade.
Customs officials in Torkham stated that the country’s trade with Afghanistan had increased and that the government was willing to help both locals and Afghans.
They said that under the International Trade Route Agreement, Pakistan’s exports to Central Asian states via Torkham were also in process and that over 100 trucks and containers loaded with Pakistani commodities had left for those countries in the previous 10-12 months. They said rice, medicines, sports gear and equipment, and leather products were exported to CARs, while medicines and cotton-related items were imported from there.
