U.S. aims to boost Pakistan-Afghanistan trade

U.S. aims to boost Pakistan-Afghanistan trade    The U.S. Trade and Development Agency in Washington on Thursday entered a memorandum of understanding with Pakistan’s Planning Commission and the Afghan Ministry of Finance to pursue a Pakistan-Afghanistan Infrastructure and Trade Initiative.
   “With a focus on transportation, energy and communications, we plan to engage the U.S. private sector in working with our partners in both countries to resolve the critical issues affecting trade and economic growth,” said USTDA Acting Director Leocadia I. Zak, in a statement.
   Under the initiative, USTDA plans to sponsor three separate assessment missions covering transportation, energy and communications. Teams of technical experts will visit Pakistan and Afghanistan to identify specific regional infrastructure projects for development. The teams will:
   ' Prepare detailed terms for feasibility studies.
   ' Identify opportunities for technical assistance, training and other trade capacity building assistance.
   ' Analyze the viability of obtaining financing for project implementation, the agency said.
   USTDA also intends to organize workshops and business missions under the initiative to bring representatives from Pakistan and Afghanistan together to discuss specific regional infrastructure projects. As an initial step, USTDA plans to sponsor a high-level orientation visit to the United States for transportation officials and operators from the region on the development of roads and intermodal port-rail-road networks to connect Pakistan’s western provinces and establish links with Afghanistan.
   “The technical and business-oriented visit will focus on the potential for developing critical links between Gwadar Port and Pakistan’s interior, improving transit links to and from Karachi, and improving thru-routes to Pakistan-Afghanistan border checkpoints, such as Towr Kham and Spin Boldak,” the USTDA said.