Sir: Trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan had reached record level of 2.4 billion dollars in 2010-11 but now it has declined as low as 800 million dollars a year which is obviously a matter of concern for the authorities concerned in Islamabad besides security related issues. It is good to note that in this bitter background, Pakistan and Afghanistan have mutually agreed to form working groups to address trade related issues and in this regard a high level meeting will be held in Islamabad to finalize the proposal in the first week of May. According to the reports in the newspapers, this somewhat appreciable decision has been at a meeting between Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance and Economic Affairs Miftah Ismail and Afghan Finance Minister Eklil Ahmad Hakimi of all the places in Washington the other day. During the meeting in Washington, Pakistan is reported to have expressed deep concern over a sudden fall in bilateral trade while the Afghan delegation urged Islamabad to allow transit trade between Afghanistan and India. In response, Pakistani side informed their Afghan counterparts there and then quite promptly that the past such trade had created some internal problems as most of the goods intended for Afghanistan were sold in Pakistani markets instead and once such problems are resolved in a satisfying manner, Islamabad can reopen its borders for transit trade between New Delhi and Kabul. Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance and Economic Affairs Miftah Ismail, who is to present the incumbent federal government’s 6th budget in the National Assembly on April 27 through an official announcement in this regard is still awaited, is currently in Washington to attend spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) besides holding bilateral talks with US officials. Hopefully, something good and positive will come out of these meetings for Islamabad, please. Thanks. MUHAMMAD MURTAZA ZEESHAN Lahore Published in Daily Times, April 24th 2018.