ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: In a major move, the government of Pakistan has granted a temporary waiver of Electronic Import Form (EIF) for Afghanistan in order to facilitate trade activities.
This was decided during the meeting of Afghanistan Inter-Ministerial Coordination Cell (AICC) chaired by the National Security Advisor Dr. Moeed Yusuf.
The meeting was attended by Pakistan’s Special Envoy to Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq and representatives from the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Commerce, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
The waiver, initially granted for 45 days, comes as compliance with the directions of Prime Minister Imran Khan to assist Afghanistan in addressing the impending humanitarian and economic crisis.
As EIFs were not being issued by the corresponding banks to execute transactions for imports, this had led to a situation with long queues of cargo vehicles being stuck at Torkham and Chaman border crossings.
However, now with the introduction of the new measures, imports from Afghanistan would be possible without the mandatory requirement of Electronic Import Form (EIF) as required by the State Bank of Pakistan.
The new initiative comes as a huge relief for the trader community and would help in immediate clearance of hundreds of cargo trucks currently stuck up at various border crossings due to non-availability of EIF.
It will also enhance the overall trade volume between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
