The Pakistan Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI) in a press release asked the caretaker government of Pakistan to address the challenges for trade route between Kabul and Islamabad.

This chamber said that the challenges in the transit sector, including customs tariffs, will in the future cause huge losses in the commercial sector between the two sides.

In this statement, trade development, economic growth and regional stability are also emphasized.

The press release of Pakistan Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI) said that Junaid Makda, the president of PAJCCI, urged the relevant authorities to consider the current impasse and take immediate steps to remove the obstacles hindering the flow of goods and services between Pakistan and Afghanistan. He emphasized that the current situation affects the economic interests of both countries and posesses a threat to the livelihoods of stakeholders involved in cross-border trade.

Naqibullah Safi, the executive director of the Afghanistan–Pakistan joint chamber of commerce, said: “The joint Afghanistan-Pakistan Chamber of Commerce wants both countries, especially Pakistan, which have implemented some restrictions in the transit property sector, to be removed and to allow the movement of containers that are currently stopped in Karachi port.”

Meanwhile, some businessmen in the country said that Pakistan has always adopted a unilateral policy in trade with Afghanistan.

They want the authorities of the Islamic Emirate to take steps to permanently solve their challenges.

“The government of Pakistan has imposed restrictions on Afghanistan's commercial goods since three months ago when it stopped 3,500 containers in Karachi port, and this has caused a lot of loss to the private sector of Afghanistan,” Zulmai Azizi, a businessman, told TOLOnews. 

Meanwhile, Akhundzada Abdul Salam Jawad, the spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said: “During 2023, the trade between Afghanistan and Pakistan was about two billion and 468 million dollars, of which one billion and five million dollars was exports and one billion and 485 million dollars was imports.”

Due to the strained political relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, trade between these two countries in 2023 has been accompanied by many ups and downs.

According to the report of Afghanistan’s Chamber of Commerce and Investment, currently, more than 400 containers of commercial goods are blocked in Karachi port.