US bill to clear way for duty-free export zones along Pak-Afghan border

LAHORE: The Pak-US Business Council has said that a bipartisan bill, moved in the US Senate on Friday, for establishment of duty-free export zones along the Pak-Afghan border, would provide economic benefits to both countries and boost US efforts to promote peace in the region.

Lauding the move, founder chairman of Pak-US Business Council and President SAARC Chambers of Commerce and Industry Iftikhar Ali Malik, told the media here on Sunday that the bill would help establish reconstruction opportunity zones ( ROZs) in Pakistan and Afghanistan’s border regions.

He said the bill would generate economic opportunities for the people of these war-torn areas and lay the groundwork for a more stable region.

He said the ROZs would export textiles and apparel goods to the United States without paying duties.