Pak-Afghan trade talks begin after year-long hiatus

Pakistan and Afghanistan on Thursday resumed high-level trade and investment talks after a year-long gap to facilitate cargo movement at border stations to maintain unfettered bilateral and transit trade. The last high-level meeting took place between both countries in March 2024, when Commerce Secretary Mohammad Khurrum Agha visited Kabul and met Afghan Acting Minister for Industry and Commerce Nooruddin Azizi to discuss bilateral trade and transit. According to a statement released by Afghanistan’s commerce ministry, a big demand emerged for the renewal of the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA), transit facilitation, counter-smuggling commodities, and exporting Afghan coal to Pakistan.