US-Pakistan trade under threat over security initiative

The US government is concerned about the maintenance, let alone expansion, of its over US$3 billion bilateral trade with Pakistan after the latter's failure to introduce the Secure Freight Initiative (SFI) program at Karachi Port, the Business Recorder reported.

The local authorities, however, claim to have deep interest in the Pak-US joint venture, terming non-availability of the required 10-acre land as the only stumbling block in materialisation of the program.

"Full implementation of SFI is essential for maintaining, let alone expanding, the US-Pakistan trade," said Robbi Marks, Deputy Economic Officer from the US Embassy.
"For the past two years, negotiations for expansion stalled as the Government of Pakistan was unable to allocate suitable land for the facility," he said, adding that Washington was awaiting a "green light" from Islamabad for installing the facility at KICT and PICT, which had identified and dedicated their own land for the scanning facilities.

Commenting on the issue, KPT officials said they were analysing different options to accommodate the state-of-the-art technology. "We want it, but we don't have the required land," KPT Chairperson Nasreen Haque said. 

(Source: Cargo News Asia)