Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai has asked Pakistan to provide access for a transit route for trade between India and the land-locked country of Afghanistan, according to a report carried by the Press Trust of India.
“Trade has to happen to establish prosperity in the region and keep it free of conflict. I hope Pakistan will soon give the transit route to India,” the news agency quoted the Afghan President as saying.
“Trade between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Pakistan and India, and trade between the three countries is an essential element for the progress and stability of the countries,” Karzai said in Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second largest city, following the inauguration of the Afghan National Agricultural Sciences and Technology University (ANASTU) – which was built with India’s help.
Commenting on the issue of a transit route with Afghanistan, India’s External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said, “Pakistan has to open for the sake of Afghanistan. By this Afghanistan gets direct access to India via Pakistan. It will be of enormous help to Afghanistan.”
Khurshid said India will continue to push for Chahbahar Port in Iran as an alternative route to mineral-rich Afghanistan. India is interested in the Iranian port as a means of direct access to Central Asia and to facilitate the import of minerals from Afghanistan.
Khurshid also said that India has to resolve issues with Pakistan such as the grant of the Most Favoured Nation status. “They have promised MFN status to India, which has not been given yet,” he said. Pakistan has delayed the grant of MFN status to India along with an abolition of a negative trade list regime ‘for a short time’ following reservations expressed by several industries, Pakistani officials said.
