Govt committed to deepening political, diplomatic, trade relations with neighboring states

Islamabad, 12th October, 2022: Federal Minister for Commerce, Syed Naveed Qamar on Wednesday said that the government is committed to deepening political, diplomatic, and trade relations with all our neighboring countries.

The minister was addressing at Peer Learning Initiative on Single Windows Implementation and Management organized by the International Trade Center in the framework of the European Union funded Ready4Trade Central Asia (R4TCA).

The Federal Minister for Commerce was the Chief Guest at the opening session while the keynote address was delivered by Mr. Mukarram Jah Ansari, Member Customs Operations, Federal Board of Revenue.

Trade officials from Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz republic, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan also participated in a Peer Learning Initiative on best practices in Single Window’s implementation and management.

While addressing the participants, the Federal Minister of Commerce Syed Naveed Qamar appreciated the efforts of PSW and stated that since this is the first in-person event in Islamabad on a very important theme it makes it even more special.

He restated Pakistan’s commitment to trade facilitation and said, “ Our government is committed to deepening our political, diplomatic, and trade relations with all our neighboring states.

The minister said our ties with Central Asia go back several centuries and both regions have benefitted from the free flow of idea, goods, and people over national and international boundaries from ancient times.

The government is keen to revive those ties through increased engagement on government to government and people to people levels, and by providing the enabling environment to promote regional trade and connectivity.” He added.

The national single window for trade and transport is an established concept that provides a digital platform for electronic exchange of information amongst different stakeholders engaged in cross border trade.

The Single Window digitizes all cross-border trade related processes, procedures, regulatory and information requirements and allows for electronic processing of customs declaration and other cross border trade related documents such as import permits, licenses, export certificates, and other documents providing a paperless and streamlined cross-border trading environment.

The three-day event aims to present and discuss the state of development and implementation of the NSWs in these countries to enable mutual learning, discuss past and present challenges in implementation, and share best practices and lessons learned. It will also ensure that regional networks of exports are established, intensify sharing knowledge on obstacles to trade, strengthen trust among experts and formulate coordinated solutions in facilitating trade and border practices.