On July 18 2010, Pakistan and Afghanistan finalized a draft Afghan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) at Islamabad. The minutes of the agreement were signed by the Commerce and Trade Ministers of both countries in the presence of US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. The signed ‘record note’ as it is being termed by the authorities says that both countries will work towards the speedy resolution of all outstanding matters and the completion of legal processes for the signing of the accord.
The old arrangement governing transit of Afghan transit trade through Pakistan, known as the Afghan Transit Trade Agreement (ATTA) was signed in 1965. In 2009 with the facilitation of US authorities, both countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) at Washington to modernize transit trade regulations according to new international transit requirements and current economic realities. It was hoped that the new agreement would facilitate the rapid movement of goods and vehicles between and through the territories of both countries as well as lead to a strengthening of bi-lateral and regional economic ties on a mutually beneficial basis. The deadline for the completion of this exercise was December 2009 which was missed because of failure to reach agreement on issues relating to Afghan transit trade through Wahga. Finally, in July this year as the Pakistan side agreed to allow Afghan exports to India under certain regulations a draft agreement was finalized in July.

The principal objectives of the proposed APTTA as set out in Article 1 of the draft agreement are:

The APTTA 2010 contains 13 sections containing 58 articles with two annexes detailing matters relating to the implementation of the agreement. The contents of the agreement are organized as follows:
The 1965 ATTA comprises 15 articles and one protocol annexed to the main agreement that lays out the modalities of transit trade. Over the years a number of additional notifications and SROs were issued with respect to ATTA to spell out in detail the procedures governing customs control, documentation, and other matters in order to better regulate the movement of goods according to changing economic realities. The notifications and SROs that form part of the ATTA 1965 include: