Latest news with #Pakistan-AfghanistanJointChamberofCommerceandIndustry
Asharq Al-Awsat
16-03-2025
- Business
- Asharq Al-Awsat
IMF Makes Progress Toward Reaching Staff Agreement with Pakistan on First Review of $7 Bln Program
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Pakistani authorities made significant progress toward reaching a staff level agreement on the first review of an ongoing $7 billion program, IMF Mission Chief Nathan Porter said in a statement on Saturday. The mission and Pakistani authorities will continue policy discussions via video conference to finalize these discussions over the coming days, the statement said, according to the Pakistani newspaper, The News. 'The IMF and the Pakistani authorities made significant progress toward reaching a Staff Level Agreement (SLA) on the first review under the 37-month Extended Arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF),' Porter said in a statement on Friday. The lender's team, led by Porter, was in Pakistan from February 24 to March 14 to hold discussions on the first review of Pakistan's economic program supported by the EFF and the possibility of a new arrangement under the lender's Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF). The South Asian country, which has faced an economic meltdown in recent years, is treading a long path to economic recovery under the $7 billion IMF program it secured in September last year. Meanwhile, the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry has called for immediate action from Islamabad to resolve the trade crisis with the Taliban and Central Asian countries. The chamber's president highlighted the negative impacts of the closed Torkham border crossing and transit taxes on Pakistan's economy and regional trade. Junaid Makda, president of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said on Friday that increasing trade barriers, rising transportation costs, and the continued closure of the Torkham border are severely harming cross-border businesses. Makda also warned of potential long-term damage to Pakistan's economy due to the ongoing situation, stating that it forces traders to use Iranian ports instead of Pakistani routes, which will harm the country's trade network. The Torkham border has been closed for more than 20 days due to border tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban. Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated that the crossing will remain closed until the Taliban halt construction activities in the area.
Al Arabiya
27-02-2025
- Business
- Al Arabiya
Nearly a weeklong closure of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border crossing disrupts trade, movement of people
A nearly weeklong closure of the Torkham border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan has disrupted bilateral trade and the movement of people, causing financial losses to traders and leaving people stranded in harsh winter conditions, officials said Thursday. The crossing has remained closed since February 21st after Pakistan shut it down over a dispute concerning Afghanistan's construction of a border post. Since then, more than 5,000 trucks and vehicles carrying goods, including fruits and vegetables, have been stranded on both sides awaiting the reopening of the trade route, according to Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, a director of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Torkham also serves as a vital corridor for transporting goods between Pakistan and Central Asian countries, and Sarhadi urged both countries to resolve their dispute so that bilateral trade and movement of people could resume. At Torkham, truck driver Najeeb Ullah said that he was forced to sleep in his vehicle because he can't leave it unguarded on the road. 'We request Pakistan and Afghanistan to have mercy on us, as we are suffering without any reason,' he told reporters. Another driver, Mustafa Khan, said that he was hoping to return to his northwestern city of Peshawar after delivering a supply of cement in Afghan city Jalalabad, 'but I am stuck here since Friday, and I have no idea for how many days we will have to face this trouble.' Farhad Nusrat, an Afghan citizen, said that he was returning home with his mother and children, and the closure of the border crossing has forced them to spend their days and nights in the open area. He appealed to Pakistani authorities to reopen the border. Authorities said that hundreds of Pakistanis were also stranded on the other side of the border. There was no immediate comment from Pakistan. However, Abdul Jabbar Hikmat, the commissioner on the Afghan side of the border, confirmed the closure by Pakistan. 'Whenever Pakistani authorities conduct construction on their side, we say nothing. But whenever we do something, they close the border,' Hikmat said. Border closures at Torkham are common because of disputes over new posts along the porous Durand Line, which Afghanistan has never officially recognized. Pakistan, meanwhile, has nearly completed a border fence to strengthen control. The Torkham crossing is located on the edge of Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where Pakistani Taliban terrorists frequently target security forces. The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, are a separate group but allied with the Afghan Taliban, which seized power in 2021. The Taliban takeover in Afghanistan has emboldened the TTP, and increasing attacks by TTP on security forces in Pakistan has strained relations between Islamabad and Kabul.
