peshawar - Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) on Monday urged the State Bank of Pakistan to introduce a properly mechanised banking channel with Central Asian Republics for ease and smooth trade and for financial transactions.
The demand was made by SCCI acting president Imran Khan in a meeting regarding difficulties to trade with CARs held here at the Chamber House. SCCI Vice President Javed Akhtar, former vice president Manzoor Elahi and the chamber standing committee on Pak-CARs chairman and Director Area Study Centre University of Peshawar, Bashir Ahmad also attended the meeting.
Participants of the meeting thoroughly discussed impediments in the way of bilateral trade of Pakistan with regional countries and suggested proposals to amicably resolve those problems. Imran stressed the need of up-gradation of Web-based one Customs system (WeBoC) for facilitating trade with CARs.
The SCCI acting chief said that importance of geographical aspects of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cannot be overlooked, as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has the strategic advantage of connecting South Asia with Central Asia and Eastern Europe.
Imran said that SCCI had inked an agreement with Uzbekistan and Surkhandarya Chambers and is likely to also reach agreements with Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan very shortly. This is part of the chamber efforts towards promotion of regional trade, he added.