Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday chaired a meeting where matters relating to establishment of markets in Pakistan-Afghanistan and Pakistan-Iran border areas came under discussion. 

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Advisers to Prime Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and Abdul Razzaq Dawood, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal, Special Assistant to Prime Minister Asim Saleem Bajwa and other civil and military officials attended the meeting. 

The meeting was given a detailed briefing about the establishment of markets in Pakistan-Afghanistan and Pakistan-Iran border areas that are aimed at providing people of border areas better opportunities for business. The meeting was told that 12 markets will be set up in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border areas and six in the Pakistan-Iran border areas. The prime minister approved the pilot project under which two border area markets would be set up in Balochistan and one in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and made functional by February next year. 

It was decided at the meeting that effective measures would be taken to stop smuggling through the borders. Speaking on the occasion, the prime minister said the border markets will provide the local youth better opportunities for doing business and trade. After fencing of the border, he said, these border markets will help organise trade and curb smuggling. He directed the authorities to appoint staff to the designated border markets and approved corridors on a priority basis.