Transit Trade Agreement Between Pakistan And Afghanistan

APTTA 2010 allows both countries to use each other`s airports, railways, roads and ports for transit traffic along designated transit corridors. The agreement does not apply to road transport vehicles from third countries, whether they come from India or a Central Asian country. [14] Due to tensions between Hamid Karzai`s government and Pakistan, many APTTA provisions remained unused after 2010. Pakistan is Afghanistan`s largest trading partner[22] and Afghanistan is Pakistan`s fourth largest export market. Banking contacts between the two countries remain underdeveloped, although Pakistan`s trade minister pledged to improve these contacts in 2015. [22] Relations between the two neighbours have been fraught with difficulties in recent years, with both sides blaming each other for supporting the militants and providing sanctuaries. “With this measure, Pakistan has fulfilled its obligations under the Pakistan-Afghan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA),” he added, referring to a 2010 bilateral trade agreement that allowed Afghan traders access to the eastern border between Wagah and India, where Afghan goods are dumped on Indian trucks. ATTA has not granted Pakistan reciprocal rights to export goods through Afghan territory to neighbouring countries. Pakistani attempts to access Central Asian markers have been thwarted by political instability in Afghanistan that has continued since the late 1970s. As Afghanistan became increasingly dangerous as a transit corridor, China, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan developed a separate contract in 1995 called the Quadrilateral Traffic in Transit Agreement (QTTA) and signed the treaty in 2004.

[9] Despite the signing of the QTTA, the agreements were never used, mainly due to poor infrastructure between the four countries. Afghan transit traffic (ATT) through Pakistan is often a bone of contention between the two countries. Afghanistan deplores the fact that Pakistan is a major obstacle to transit trade, with frequent rule changes. APTTA calls for various measures to combat the smuggling of duty-free goods to Pakistan and Afghanistan by imposing the following measures: tracking equipment, bank guarantees and special licences for tankers for transit trucks, vehicle tracking systems and container security depots. [20] While Afghan importers and exporters have full access to Pakistani seaports under APTTA, Afghanistan has claimed that Pakistani officials often block deliveries and cause unnecessary delays,[31] especially after the NATO attack on Pakistan in 2011. In November 2010, the two states formed a joint chamber of commerce to develop their trade relations and resolve the problems faced by distributors, both in this and other respects. [6] [7] “Pakistan remains firmly committed to strengthening bilateral relations with Afghanistan in all areas, including trade, and facilitating Afghanistan`s transit trade under APTTA,” the statement concluded. The APTTA agreement allows Afghan trucks to transport exports to India to the Wagah crossing point via Pakistan,[7][7] but does not offer Afghanistan the right to import Indian goods via Pakistani territory,[17] lest Indian goods end up on the Pakistani black market, as was the case in 1965 under the ATTA. Instead, Afghan trucks dumped in Wagah can return to Afghanistan, which are loaded only with Pakistani goods instead of Indian goods[18] to prevent the creation of a black market for Indian goods in Pakistan.