PESHAWAR: The government needs to eliminate increase in the Regulatory Duty of exports to Afghanistan in order to give a relief to the importers and exporters of both countries.
This was stated by Zahid Ullah Shinwari, President Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, while giving an exclusive interview to Customs Today on Friday.
The President SCCI said Pakistani export to Afghanistan has decreased due to poor Infrastructure Policy 2015-18 of both governments who failed to create a space for imports of both countries.
The Government of Pakistan also demands a guarantee certificate from the importers of fruits and dry fruits of Afghanistan due to which certain trucks remain standard on the border and the traders have to bear the loss of millions of rupees.
The President of SCCI added that, due to strict rules applied by the Government of Pakistan on imports from Afghanistan, it has also compelled the Afghan government to apply the same restrictions on the traders of Pakistan. Now the border authorities have banned the entry of Pakistanis to Afghanistan without the processing of visa.
The President SCCI maintained that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has been badly hit by terrorism due to which 90 percent of business has decreased which has not been even restored through additional packages.
The President reminded the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government of the promise made to them to provide with funds for the uplift of the economic environment of the province but they failed to do so.
Zahid Shinwari went on to elaborate his point that the industrialists of the province are very disappointed for the unavailability of the funds from the provincial government for which he had also written a letter to the Chief Minister KP in order to inform him about the real situation of the investments.
To a question as to foreign investments in the province have increased or decreased, the President SCCI responded that the investments in the KP have increased due to antiterrorism efforts of the government. “If promised relief package of Rs4.2billion is given for the restoration of the infrastructure of the business then local businessmen will be content enough to do their business”.
The President lauded the efforts made by the high-ups of the Model Customs Collectorate Peshawar for meeting the required needs and said the collectorate has helped the chamber raise the issues with the federal government for avoiding the losses of the trade in the province.
The President added that the chamber had also informed the KP Governor about the problems faced by the traders of the province. The governor did assure the chamber of fulfilling their demands in order to speed up the economic development of the province.
