Pakistan to resume Afghan exports to India through Wagah border today

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will restore the Wagah border crossing with India from today, Wednesday, to allow Afghan exports to pass through, a move announced by the Pakistan foreign office earlier this week and welcomed by the US State department.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday it would open the border crossing on July 15 in fulfilment of its commitments under the Pakistan-Afghanistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA).
“We welcome Pakistan’s announced reopening of Angoor Adda, Kharlachi, and Wagah border crossings for Afghan trade,” the State Department’s official Twitter account for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs said. “This grows livelihoods & prosperity in both countries. Facilitating Afghan exports strengthens its economy as it rebounds from COVID-19 trade disruptions.”
Islamabad has restored trade operations with Afghanistan at five border terminals - Chaman, Torkham, Ghulam Khan, Angor Adda and Kharlachi - in recent weeks after closing them in mid-March to limit the spread of the coronavirus, which causes COVID-19.
The Wagah border is located near Lahore, the capital of the Punjab province, and is one of the major crossings between India and Pakistan.
APTTA was signed in 2010, allowing landlocked Afghanistan to trade with India through Wagah. The agreement permits Afghanistan trucks access to the Wagah border with India, where Afghan goods are offloaded onto Indian trucks, but does not permit Indian goods to be loaded onto trucks for transit back to Afghanistan.
The APTTA agreement also allows Afghan trucks to transport exports to India via Pakistan up to the Wagah crossing point, but does not offer Afghanistan the right to import Indian goods across Pakistani territory. Instead, Afghan trucks offloaded at Wagah may return to Afghanistan loaded only with Pakistani, rather than Indian goods, in an attempt to prevent the formation of a black market for Indian goods in Pakistan.
“I think the past routine will continue as it was not mentioned in today’s [foreign office] statement that Pakistan will allow Afghan trucks to enter into India,” Co-Chairman of the Pakistan Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Zubair Motiwala, said, adding that the decision to reopen the crossing on July 15 was a “welcoming and timely” announcement for Afghan traders and the most cost effective.