A lack of agreement on bank guarantee and letter of credit (L/C) arrangements have been identified as reasons why the implementation on the controversial Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) has been delayed until later this year.

More deliberations are needed on various issues according to Pakistan's Trade Secretary, Zafar Mehmud.

Consultative session

The trade secretary was speaking at the end of a two-day consultative session of the Pak-Afghan Transit Trade Coordination Authority.

"Implementation of APTTA is delayed till June this year," Mehmud said.

Guarantees and L/Cs

Both sides apparently need to do more work towards reaching agreement on issues including bank guarantee and L/C arrangements as well as the installation of a tracker system on containers and biometric systems.

One of the key sticking points is that the Afghan side is reluctant to arrange bank guarantees with Pakistani banks and is arguing for bank guarantees to be arranged with Afghan banks.

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or any of the other partners in DC-PRO.