Senior Vice President of Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Zia-ul-Haq Sarhadi, on Wednesday expressed his deep concern over drastic reduction in the bilateral trade with Afghanistan and Central Asian countries.

In a press statement, Sarhadi who is also Executive Member Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry blames enforcement of two percent Infrastructure Development Cess by Khyber Government on export cargo as one of the reason for recent dip in trade between Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asian Republics, Pakistani media reported.

He said in the recent past the volume of bilateral trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan was around 2.5 billion dollars which has shrunk to mere 700 million dollars.

Citing other reasons behind this plunge in trade volume, Zia said it includes frequent closure of Pak-Afghan border at Torkhem border, Temporary Admission Document, implementation of ban on Pak-Afghan trade including 100 percent bank guarantee, inclusion of 14 items into negative list, enforcement of 10 percent processing fees, restrictions at Karachi port causing holding of more than 300 containers of transit trade.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s (IEA) spokesman says practical work on the Afghanistan section of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) project has started.

Zabihullah Mujahid told Ariana News that technical equipment needed to implement the project was transferred to the border area between Afghanistan and Turkmenistan and that practical work has started.

Mujahid added that a large number of people are working in different sections of this project and its first phase will be completed in the next two years.

According to Mujahid, practical work on the CASA-1000 project and other projects will also start soon.

The spokesman of the Islamic Emirate said that Afghanistan will slowly strengthen and good job opportunities will be provided for the country's citizens.

Economic experts also believe that this project will play a vital role in the growth of the region's economy.

According to TAPI project officials, once completed, 12,000 people in Afghanistan will have job opportunities, and Afghanistan's annual income from this project will be close to one billion dollars.

The TAPI pipeline is 1,821 kilometers long and has an annual transport capacity of 33 billion cubic meters of natural gas, making it one of the largest regional infrastructure projects.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday demanded that BRICS member countries commit to not creating a new currency or supporting another currency that would replace the United States dollar or face 100% tariffs, Reuters reported.

"We require a commitment from these Countries that they will neither create a new BRICS Currency, nor back any other Currency to replace the mighty U.S. Dollar or, they will face 100% Tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful U.S. Economy," Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.

"They can go find another 'sucker'. There is no chance that the BRICS will replace the U.S. Dollar in International Trade, and any Country that tries should wave goodbye to America."

The BRICS countries - which now include Egypt, Iran, and UAE as well - discussed boosting non-dollar transactions and strengthening local currencies at a summit held in Russia's Kazan in October, read the report.

A joint declaration for the "strengthening of correspondent banking networks within BRICS and enabling settlements in local currencies in line with BRICS Cross-Border Payments Initiative" was secured at the summit in October.

However, Russia's President Vladimir Putin indicated at the summit's end that no alternatives have been made so far to compete with the Belgium-based SWIFT financial messaging system.