Pakistan is planning to export 50,000 tons of wheat to neighbouring Afghanistan despite recent saber-rattling threats by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, media reports said on Monday.
The exports will be made from the stocks of state-owned Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Supplies Corporation (PASSCO) at subsidized rates, English-language daily Business Recorder said.
Last weekend Karzai threatened to invade Pakistan in pursuit of insurgent Talibans, triggering new tensions between the two countries and causing a 7 per cent decline in the country's main Karachi bourse, reported dpa.
But this did not impede Pakistan's willingness to supply wheat or flour at subsidized rates to cash-strapped and food-hungry Afghanistan. Fifty thousand tons of the staple will be sent in addition to the regular 600,000 tons annual export to the war-torn country.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already sought bids from private transporters to dispatch the wheat.
Pakistan itself is going through a severe wheat shortage and has recently placed orders for importing 2.5 million tons.