Afghan delegation arrives in Islamabad to finalize PTA: officials

ISLAMABAD: An Afghan delegation arrived in Islamabad Monday evening for talks on Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) that will allow both countries to almost slash duties on several items, officials of the two countries said.

Led by Ahmadullah Zahid, Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Afghanistan, will hold talks with Pakistani officials on Tuesday.

Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq wrote on X that the Afghan delegation will hold talks with Pakistani officials on PTA.

Afghan Deputy Minister for Commerce and Industry Ahmadullah Zahid, along with senior technical experts, has arrived in Pakistan for talks with officials of Ministry of Commerce on bilateral Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA). pic.twitter.com/63EyqZNgqx

— Mohammad Sadiq (@AmbassadorSadiq) July 21, 2025

The Afghan Commerce Ministry said in a statement that the purpose of this visit is to discuss the transit between the two countries.

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“There will be discussions and exchanges on important issues related to trade and preferential tariffs. It is expected that an agreement on preferential tariffs will be signed during this visit, to further strengthen economic and trade relations between the two countries,” according to the statement.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is committed to continuing to grow the country’s trade, transit, and industry and to taking advantage of all available opportunities to strengthen the national economy.”

Pakistan and the ruling Taliban have been involved in discussion on PTA since long and Pakistani officials say almost everything has been finalized.

Pakistan will substantially reduce tariffs on Afghanistan’s four items, apple, graphs, tomatoes and pomegranates while Afghanistan will do the same on four Pakistani items, citrus fruits, potatoes, bananas and mangoes, an official told Hum News English.

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If signed, it would be the first agreement between Pakistan and the Taliban government since their control of Afghanistan in Aug. 2021.

Officials familiar with PTA talks said that Afghanistan’s position was that taxes should be imposed on goods after a certain amount of exports.

Pakistan initially did not agree to this proposal but later agreed in principle and the final decision would be taken in the talks in Islamabad. Afghanistan insisted that since their fruit season is short and their cold storage capacity is also lower than Pakistan.

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Pakistan exports potatoes and bananas almost throughout the year and Pakistan has a large cold storage capacity. Afghanistan had also proposed reduction/slash of taxes on ten items but Pakistan said that the duty should be reduced to four initially.

The talks will begin amid reports that the volume of bilateral trade between Afghanistan and Pakistan has reached nearly $1 billion during the first six months of 2025.

According to the Afghan Ministry of Industry and Commerce,, Afghanistan exported goods worth $277 million to Pakistan, while Pakistan imported goods worth $712 million.

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