On Friday, Pakistan’s commerce ministry operationalized the Gwadar Port for Afghan transit trade under the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement-2010 (APTTA)
Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razzak Dawood in a series of tweets shared that a ship carrying 16,000 metric tonnes of urea and fertilizer for Afghanistan had arrived in Gwadar, beginning a new chapter of trade via sea route from the Gwadar Port to Afghanistan.
The cargo ship SIBULK TRADITION has berthed at Gwadar, carrying 16000 Tonnes of urea for Transit to Afghanistan. This is a first and marks the beginning of a new era in Pakistan’s trade by sea 1/2
@ImranKhanPTI @aliya_hamza @PTIofficial @PTVNewsOfficial @RadioPakistan pic.twitter.com/nNsCKP3QBr— Abdul Razak Dawood (@razak_dawood) May 29, 2020
He further added that it was for the first time that the fertilizer will be locally packed. He claimed that directives had also been issued to offer jobs and livelihoods to local laborers only.
In addition to fertilizers, Afghanistan will be granted permission to transit sugar and wheat from Gwadar, while trucks carrying fully sealed consignments will only be able to travel to the neighboring country.
While this may be a first in maritime trade for the two countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan both continued to trade by land, with global trading activity paused in the middle of the pandemic.
