ISLAMABAD, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan and Afghanistan on Monday kicked off high level talks here to revise a transit trade agreement over the possibility of a preferential trade agreement and a plan to establish border markets to facilitate bilateral trade, officials and diplomats said.
Afghanistan Minister of Industry and Commerce Nisar Ahmad Ghoryani is leading the Afghan delegation while Pakistan is represented by Adviser to the Prime Minister of Pakistan for Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood.
Pakistan and landlocked Afghanistan had signed a transit trade agreement in 1965 that was revised in 2010. Pakistan had been providing a transit facility to Afghanistan under the agreement.
Pakistani Ambassador to Afghanistan Mansoor Khan said that Pakistan would build 12 markets along the border with Afghanistan and two of them will be built in three months as a pilot project.
A Pakistani official told Xinhua on Sunday that Pakistan has shared a draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Afghan side for establishing joint border markets. He said both sides will also discuss opening of new corridors and ports of entry/exit for Afghan transit trade to provide the maximum relief to the Afghan traders.
Last year, Pakistan allowed the Afghan transit trade from Gwadar port in the country's southwestern Balochistan province. Afghan traders now have the facility of transshipment and transit through Gwadar port that has given a boost to their trade activities and quick clearance of their goods. Enditem
