The Afghan-Pakistan border. (Photo: EPA)
While most of the coverage of today’s summit meeting in Islamabad between Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Afghan President Hamid Karzai focused on crucial issues of security and the peace process, the two leaders also covered one of the key drivers of long-run regional stability: enhanced trade and economic relations between the two countries.
According to press reports, the sides discussed cooperation on infrastructure, power, and transportation projects. In particular, Pakistan promised to follow through on its pledges under the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA), which is designed to facilitate the flow of goods from Afghanistan and for export via Pakistan, as well as through customs into Afghanistan, among other provisions. While the agreement is signed and in place, it has long faced an extensive range of issues in practical application.
CIPE has been working with the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry on joint advocacy efforts between business leaders in both countries to try to unblock APTTA implementation. Now that such public, high-level support has been given to the process, it will be up to the private sector to maintain the pressure to realize the APTTA vision of free-flowing trade between these neighbors.
Marc Schleifer is Senior Program Officer for South Asia at CIPE.
