Pakistani Investors Urged To Explore Investment Opportunities In Afghanistan

Commercial Attach of Afghanistan in Pakistan Sameena Wadeer on Saturday said that Afghanistan was undergoing rehabilitation and reconstruction phase and it was good time for Pakistani investors to explore it for investment

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Aug, 2019 ) :Commercial Attach of Afghanistan in Pakistan Sameena Wadeer on Saturday said that Afghanistan was undergoing rehabilitation and reconstruction phase and it was good time for Pakistani investors to explore it for investment.

She visited Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry and exchanged views with the local business community for promoting bilateral trade and investment relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

She said that Afghanistan was bringing lot of reforms in business sector to promote business activities, adding that there were 19 industrial areas across Afghanistan while price of one square meter of land in Industrial Park was only 50 AFN.

She said that Afghanistan has zero tariff on machinery for domestic industries with one percent for raw material and stressed that Pakistani investors should take benefit of these incentives by investing in Afghanistan.

She highlighted agriculture, energy, mining, pharmaceuticals, telecommunication and carpet making as potential areas for investment in Afghanistan.

She said that by investing in Afghanistan, Pakistani investors could get easy access to Central Asian markets.

Sameena Wadeer appreciated Pakistan for opening Torkham crossing point for 24 hours and added that same facility should also be provided at Chaman crossing point that would help in improving two-way trade.

She said that Afghan traders have good knowledge of Pakistani market, but Pakistani traders have insufficient knowledge of Afghan market.

She stressed that Pakistani business community should visit Afghanistan to identify potential areas of business collaboration and assured that her Embassy would provide visa facilitation to genuine businessmen. Afghanistan has surplus electricity and Pakistan could import energy from Afghanistan, she added.

Ahmed Hassan Moughal, President, ICCI said that despite being close neighbours, Pak-Afghan bilateral trade was much less than the actual potential.

He urged that both countries for addressing all trade barriers between to improve trade volume.

He said that in 2010-11, Pakistan's exports to Afghanistan were $2.4 billion that have come down to $1.3 billion by 2018-19, which was not encouraging.

He said that both countries were revising transit trade agreement and urged that the revised agreement should promote business interests of both countries.

He said that Pakistan was a gateway for Afghanistan to reach other markets while Afghanistan could provide easy access to Central Asian markets.

Therefore, close cooperation between private sectors would be beneficial for both the countries.