Islamabad: Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to increase bilateral trade volume to $5 billion by 2015 from the present near $2.5 billion, said officials.
The Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Economic Commission at the conclusion of two-day meeting in Islamabad noted with satisfaction that bilateral trade volume increased during last four years from $850 million to $2,500 million. But it was still below the potential, Xinhua reported.
Afghan Finance Minister Hazrat Omar Zakhelwal led his country's delegation in the meeting while Pakistani team was headed by Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh.
Both sides agreed to resolve the problems faced by their traders, especially, the blockade of Afghan commercial containers bearing perishable items and fuel, a joint statement issued at the conclusion of the meeting said.
They also agreed to establish display centres at Afghanistan's capital city Kabul and Pakistan's port city of Karachi for bilateral trade promotion.
The Afghan finance minister also held a meeting with Pakistan's Petroleum Minister Asim Hussain. Both the leaders vowed to work for solution to energy crisis.
Hussain expressed Pakistan's interest in exporting petroleum products to Afghanistan and informed the Afghan delegation regarding intent of establishing office of state-owned Pakistan State Oil (PSO) in Afghanistan.
The issue of smuggling of petroleum products across Afghanistan- Pakistan borders was also discussed and it was agreed that effective monitoring and preventative regime should be put in place.
Both sides also agreed upon the importance of Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline (TAPI) pipeline project and expressed mutual consent for meeting regional energy demands, according to a government statement.
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