President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has said that the trade value between Afghanistan and Pakistan will reach $5 billion on annual basis.
The Presidential Palace following a statement said President Ghani met with the Finance Minister of Pakistan during the first day of his visit to Pakistan.
The statement further that the two sides discussed expansion of trade relations between the two nations, issues related to export being faced by Afghan traders, transit issues and a number of other major regional projects.
The meeting also focused on arrangement of facilities for the Afghan traders to help them transport their goods from Karachi port to Kabul within one week time, the statement said, adding that President Ghani discussed the arrangement of facilities for the Afghan traders to store their goods in Karachi, Qasim and Gawadar ports.
This comes as the Afghan finance minister Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal met with his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar ahead of President Ghani’s visit and the two sides agreed to to expand bilateral trade to $5 billion on annual basis within the next two to three years from the current $2.5 billion.
Dar said Pakistan will complete a 100-bed Naeb Aminullah Khan Hospital at Logar, hostel for 100 students at Rehman Baba School and a 200-bed Jinnah Hospital at Kabul in the near future.
President Ghani’s visit marks renewed effort by the two neighbors to warm up their relations which have witnessed ups and downs during the recent years.
