Pakistan will lose big market in both Afghanistan, Central Asia: Sarhadi

Reacting to the Afghan authorities’ call for exploring new trade avenues, Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, senior vice-president of Pak-Afghan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has expressed concern that Pakistan would lose a big market in both Afghanistan and Central Asian States, with whom Pakistan just recently signed trade agreements worth millions of dollars.

He noted that Afghanistan had the option to sign business deals with almost all Central Asian States along with Iran and Turkiye on easier terms than Pakistan’s, Dawn newspaper reported.

Before Durand Line crossings closure last month, Pakistan was exporting fresh fruits, cement, medicines, fabrics, agricultural tools, shoes, and other products worth $100–200 million per month to Afghanistan.

Zahidullah Shinwari, a former president of Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that besides losing the Afghan and Central Asian States markets, the suspension of trade with Afghanistan would also seriously affect the tax collection of Federal Bureau of Revenue, which was collecting millions of rupees on a daily basis from both exports and imports at all border points.

He said that industry in KP would be particularly hit hard by the trade suspension with Afghanistan as the KP industry was heavily reliant on its products to Afghanistan, while they couldn’t compete with industry in Punjab and Sindh due to several reasons.

“Much of our big industry, especially cement factories, are run by coal imported from Afghanistan, so suspension of coal import from Afghanistan will adversely affect the production capacity of our big industries,” he said.

He warned if the trade with Afghanistan ended permanently, it would result in the closure of a majority of industrial units in KP with hundreds of industrial labour becoming jobless, while the owners would go bankrupt.

Trade between Afghanistan and Pakistan came to a standstill over a month ago after Pakistani airstrikes on Afghanistan and clashes between the two countries.

Recently, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, urged traders to look for new trade avenues, as Pakistan has always created hurdles.