Staff Reporter
Pak Afghan Youth Forum, (PAYF), as a platform to promote Pak-Afghan strong ties and facilitate cooperation among the citizens of both sides, organized a webinar on “Pak-Afghan Trade Issues: Opportunities, Challenges, and Responses”. The platform brought together prominent figures from both countries’ trade and commerce communities to discuss the various issues that led to a decrease in Pak-Afghan trade over the years.
The Key Note Speaker of the event was Ms. Shandana Gulzar Khan; the Pakistani Parliamentary Secretary for Chamber and Commerce. She spoke passionately of the importance of bilateral trade between both countries, mentioning how the current government is working hard to reduce the issues faced by traders on both sides. She also mentioned the importance of CPEC and its potential to benefit both Afghanistan and Pakistan. She also highlighted how recent visit of PM Imran Khan to Kabul can be fruitful in opening new avenues for trade and commerce industry and how frequent visits of delegates from both sides has helped for understanding of issues and addressing them with more clarity.
The webinar platform allowed the traders from both sides to talk about their grievances openly. The webinar was carried out in English, Urdu and Pashto, for ease of participants and audience, hence allowing the traders to voice their concerns with ease. Nizam Khan Salarzai, youth leader from Erstwhile FATA moderated the session eloquently and event was broadcasted live on social media, with participants ranging from students of business administration, forestry, pharmacy and senior members from business community of both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Esteemed speaker panelists included Khan Jan Alokozay, who is the founder and co-president of Pak-Afghan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI), as well as the Vice-Chairman of the Afghanistan Chamber Federation. He emphasized Pakistan and Afghanistan’s dependence on each other for trade and goods and appreciated the changing negative perceptions in recent times, as well as the changes in policies. He was saddened about how transit trade that used to be above 100,000, cargo containers between the two countries is now limited to 10,000-15,000 containers only.
