PESHAWAR: To resume the export trade and customs activities through border area of the North Waziristan agency, the federal government and customs officials have reopened the Ghulam Khan Border Check-Point on experiment basis on July 03, 2017.
The FBR and Customs officials have also hailed the decision and ordered the staff concerned to start the customs related duties at the border point to facilitate the exporters and importers. The check point was closed in 2014 when the military operation Zarb-e-Azab was launched. After the closure of this point, all trade related activities with Afghanistan were suspended, however now government has decided to reopen this checkpost on experiment basis. After the desired results, the decision would be taken on permanent basis to increase the export and trade related activities across the border.
The Customs House Peshawar has also hailed the decision and said this decision would contribute to increase the revenue of the country through export and import. The official said that through this step burden on Torkham border would decrease and export of items from North Waziristan agency would further increase the revenue.
It was also a longstanding demand of the business community and leading exporters as continued tension on Torkham border had caused exporters and importers billions of rupees loss.
Afghanistan was leading the business partners of Pakistan as Pakistani export was 2.5 billion rupees, however due to clashes and closure of the border the trade activities have reduced to one billion rupees.
The recent move would not only further enhance the export activities of the province but also improve the friendly relation with Afghanistan to trust each other. The customs collectorate Peshawar has instructed its staff to start work on the border.