During the second visit of the Beyond Boundaries’ Pakistan Afghanistan Joint Committee (PAJC) in Islamabad, as part of the strategic sideline meetings with government and non-government stakeholders, The Afghan visiting PAJC delegates met with Minister of State (MoS) for Finance, Mr. Rana Mohammad Afzal Khan on 01 March, 2018. Mr Imtiaz Gul, Executive Director CRSS, and Mr. Aized Ali, Project Director CRSS were also present.
Minister Rana Afzal, assured Afghan delegation of his continued support to the Beyond Boundaries’ initiative, recalling that he had been part of the initiative as head of the Pakistan delegation for the last meeting held in Kabul December 2017. He was presented with problems faced by businessmen and traders of Afghanistan regarding transit trade.
On his return when he assumed the charge of MoS for Finance, he has held several meetings with Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) Customs Division for expeditious transit facility clearance at Torkham, to resolve issues faced by Afghan businessmen. As a result the customs facility at Torkham are being updated for speedy customs clearance to facilitate early movement of goods containers by building a separate custom point for clearance of containers electronically instead of physical loading and unloading; this will save time and expedite container clearance. He also assured the Afghan delegation that his ministry has recommended that the “quarantine” issue of containers carrying perishable goods be exempted, so that the traders do not suffer losses. He further informed the delegation that in this annual budget for this year, his ministry has requested to allocate special funds for similar customs facility updates at Chamman border as well.
The Afghan delegation thanked the Minister for taking timely initiatives and agreed that new customs clearance facility at Torkham needs to be completed in the shortest possible time so that excessive delays could be avoided. During the meeting discussion specially focused on problems being faced in the realm of transit trade and measures for trade facilitation.
They also discussed that the possibility of scholarships being offered to Afghan students could also be made available to Afghan refugee families in Pakistan. The delegation apprised the Minister that the Afghan Government is making concerted efforts for resettlement of Afghan refugees back home and that it plans to facilitate two million refugees in two years. The Afghan delegation brought to the notice of the Minister problems being faced by Afghan businessmen on visas and certain restrictions regarding their hotel accommodation and short term stays as they are currently issued tourist visas. Minister Afzal told the Afghan delegates that their ministry will have meetings with Business Chambers, particularly the Pak-Afghan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry to resolve visa issues faced by businessmen through developing a mechanism to facilitate long term business visas.
Minister Afzal, on the occasion appreciated the statement of the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the recent Kabul Process meeting, wherein he mentioned about unconditional dialogue with Afghan Taliban and also having talks with Government of Pakistan to resolve Afghan crisis. He also noted that the recently inaugurated TAPI project is a great initiative, adding: “we look forward to working with Afghanistan closely”. He told the Afghan delegates that your Ambassador Dr. Omar Zakhilwal is doing a great job here; I have met him very frequently. But, in a lighter tone, he added: “you should also consider me your ambassador here”.
The delegation thanked Minster Rana Afzal for sparing time for the meeting and a frank discussion with members of the delegation on different matters.