Transit Trade Agreement

The Afghanistan–Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (also known as APTTA) is a bilateral trade agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been renegotiated several times.[1] The treaty, signed in 1950, gave Afghanistan the right to import duty-free goods through Karachi.[2]

The treaty allows Afghanistan access to the dry port of Lahore, and also access to a land route up to the Wagah border with India. It does not allow Afghan goods to cross the actual border, as the intention of the treaty was to provide Afghanistan with access to the Port of Karachi. It was not intended to allow Afghans to use Pakistan as a corridor to India. It does not allow India to use the land route to export goods to Afghanistan either.[3] The 2009 treaty came under severe criticism from opposition political groups and strategists.[4]

In 2006 the total net worth of smuggled goods into Pakistan had been set at 80% of all imports into Pakistan via the ATTA.[5]

The bilateral trade between the two countries has increased from 830.2 million USD in 2006-07 to 2.5 billion USD in 2010-11 due to non commercial goods but then declined in the subsequent years. Bilaterally formal trade is increasing but informal trade is higher than formal trade.[6] During President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani visit to India, he insisted Pakistan to open transit route for India.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Adil, Adnan (2010-10-29). "Pakistan-Afghan authorities sign new trade accord". Central Asia Online.
  2. ↑ Seddon, David (2004). A Political and Economic Dictionary of the Middle East. Routledge. p. 15. ISBN 978-1-85743-212-1.
  3. ↑ Rana, Yudhvir (2011-06-23). "Pak should give MFN status to India: CII". Times of India.
  4. ↑ Pande, Aparna (2011). Explaining Pakistan's Foreign Policy: Escaping India. Routledge. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-415-59900-9.
  5. ↑ Napoleoni, Loretta (2006). Alex P. Schmid, ed. Forum on Crime and Society: 4. United Nations. p. 38. ISBN 978-92-1-130246-2.
  6. ↑ "Afghanistan - Pakistan Trade: Emerging Trends and Challenges". Sdpi.org. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
  7. ↑ "Ghani presses Pakistan to open land transit trade from India - Newspaper". Dawn.Com. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
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