ISLAMABAD: Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday spoke with his Afghan counterpart Mohammed Haneef Atmar and discussed the importance of establishing border markets to enhance bilateral trade between the neighbours.
Pakistan has said it plans to increase the volume of bilateral trade with Afghanistan, which stood at $2 billion in 2019, to $5 billion in the next five years.
Traders on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border have long urged officials in Kabul and Islamabad to ease border measures to expedite the movement of goods between the two countries, a process that has slowed down even further in recent months due to new rules introduced to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Good connecting w/ FM @MHaneefAtmar,” Qureshi said in a tweet. “In line w/ directive of PM @ImranKhanPTI discussed imp[ortance] of moving forward with establishment of border markets for stronger bilateral trade.”
The foreign minister also said Pakistan would continue to work closely with Afghanistan “for stability in [the] region and for [the] success of Afghan peace process.”
Negotiating teams representing the Afghan government and Taliban insurgents are meeting in the Qatari capital of Doha to chalk out a deal that aims to end over two decades of war in Afghanistan. Pakistan is seen as key in bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table for talks with United States representatives and ultimately with the Kabul government it has been fighting for decades.
In November, the Pentagon said it would reduce the number of US forces in Afghanistan from 4,500 to 2,500 by mid-January, which it did.
Last week, the United States said it would review the peace agreement reached with the Taliban last year, according to a White House statement. Under a February 2020 deal between the United States and the Taliban, US forces are to leave Afghanistan by May 2021 in exchange for counter-terrorism guarantees.
