Afghanistan and Turkmenistan companies have signed more than 10 contracts and two memorandums of understanding on construction materials, including iron bars, paint, marble and food materials.

The contracts were signed during the trip of a Turkmen business delegation to Herat province and in the presence of Nooruddin Azizi, Acting Minister of Industry and Commerce.

“There is excellent opportunity for the expansion of trade and economic relations between Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, which both sides should take full advantage of,” Azizi said at the signing ceremony of these contracts, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce on Tuesday.

The Ministry of Industry and Commerce pointed out that the contracts were inked as a follow-up to visit of the acting minister to Turkmenistan and meeting with its national leader Gurbanguly Berdi Mohammadov.

Earlier, the delegation from Turkmenistan’s private sector said that their goal is to expand economic relations between the private sectors of the two countries. They said they are hoping to buy hundreds of tons of construction materials from Afghan industrialists every year.

Union of Turkmen industrialists is interested in a contract with Herat industrialists in the field of construction materials. The economic delegation of Turkmenistan, which has been in Herat for the past three days, has visited various plants including marble and iron and also paint manufacturers.

The delegation, which is from Turkmenistan’s private sector, says that their goal is to expand economic relations between the private sectors of the two countries.

They said they are hoping to buy hundreds of tons of construction materials from Afghan industrialists every year.

Contracts for the sale of marble, paint and iron bars between the two countries are expected to be signed soon.

“During this trip that we were in Herat and the products that we saw in the factories and especially the works that were handicrafts in the field of marble and onyx, these are really amazing, naturally, in the world of industries handicraft is said to be one of the most expensive and popular products, so we were surprised by the products we saw here,” said a member of the delegation from Turkmenistan.

Herat Chamber of Industries and Mines says that there is now the capacity in Herat Industrial City to produce enough goods in various sectors to export abroad. At present, there are about 40 companies operating in the marble processing sector.

An agreement with the Turkmenistan union for construction materials could be a valuable step for Herat business owners.

Some factory owners also believe that the production of construction materials has improved in recent years, and that the capacities in the production and processing of marble and iron bars have also increased.

Herat Chamber of Industries and Mines says that currently more than 800 factories are active in the industrial town of this province.

Ten wagons of Afghanistan’s goods bound for Turkey have passed through Tehran and are now on the way to the Razi border in northwest Iran, local media reported on Monday.

IRNA news agency, citing the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development of Iran, said that Afghanistan Rail Development Consortium dispatched the consignment without going through legal procedures, including obtaining permits from border guards and customs, as well as without obtaining permission from the Iranian Railway Authority.

It said that Iran allowed the passage of the consignment considering its national interests and with goodwill.

Iranian officials announced that they will allow the next trade consignment from Afghanistan to transit through the country only after the necessary permits from relevant authorities have been obtained.