India to host trade show for Af

India will host a trade and investment show next week to highlight Afghanistan’s potential to emerge as a hub of regional commerce — a possibility, which is being persistently blocked by Pakistan.

New Delhi will host the India-Afghanistan Trade and Investment show from September 27 to 29.

The event will bring the business communities of India and Afghanistan together. The event is being held close on the heels of US President Donald Trump’s call to India to do more to help stabilise conflict-hit Afghanistan.

India will use the Trade and Investment show to slam Pakistan for not helping Afghanistan realise its potential to emerge as a hub for trade between South Asia and Central Asia, sources told DH.

New Delhi will highlight that war-ravaged Afghanistan would be able to achieve its optimal economic potential only if it is allowed freedom of transit to major markets in South Asia. The Afghan-Pakistan Transit and Trade Agreement came into force between the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan on June 12, 2011.

Islamabad, however, at present allows trucks from Afghanistan to carry goods through Pakistan only up to Wagah and not up to Attari (a checkpoint on the Indian
side of the India-Pakistan border).