The foundation stone of a new industrial park in Balkh province was laid on Sunday in the presence of officials, elders and members of the private sector.

Speaking at a ceremony to mark the occasion, Noorul Hadi Abu Adris, deputy governor of Balkh province, emphasized the need for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) to encourage and support the private sector. He said: “In order to solve the problems, serious measures and such projects are implemented for the development of the country.”

Syed Mohammad Naeem Mohammadi, general director of industrial parks of the ministry of commerce and industry, thanked the authorities for handing over the land, and setting up this park. He asked businessmen and investors to invest in the park.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry said that they have allocated about 4,000 acres of land for the industrial park; the first phase will include 244 acres of this land, where a commercial center will be built.

As well as the center, 3.6 kms of walls will be built along with 10 kms of roads. This will be completed within six months. Meanwhile, Nooruddin Azizi, acting minister of commerce and industry, has inaugurated Boost Industrial Estate and National Industrial Estate in Helmand Province.

The press office of the ministry has published a newsletter saying that Azizi said the opening of industrial parks was part of their efforts to industrialize Afghanistan.

Boost Industrial Town covers 175 acres of land and National Industrial Town is on 2,000 acres of land in Helmand province.

The acting minister of industry and trade added that: “The opening of industrial towns in the country, the transformation of Afghanistan from an economy dependent on imports to an economy dependent on exports is the priority of the economic policy of the Islamic Emirate.”

The value of Iran’s non-oil exports to Afghanistan increased by four percent during the first seven months of the current Solar year, as compared to the same period of time in the past year, the Tehran Times reported.

According to Ruhollah Latifi, the spokesman of the International Relations and Trade Development Committee of Iran’s House of Industry, Mining and Trade, Iran exported non-oil commodities worth $975 million to Afghanistan in the seven-month period of this year.

Latifi said Iran has a 35 percent share in Afghanistan’s import market, which is a considerable figure in bilateral trade ties.

Mohammad-Mehdi Javanmard-Ghassab, the economic adviser of the Iranian president’s special envoy on Afghanistan affairs, stated that the country is seeking to export technology, technical know-how as well as technical and engineering services to Afghanistan.

Increasing the production of Iranian products in Afghanistan is also on the agenda, he emphasized.

According to Mohammad Ghanadzadeh, the deputy head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO), the trade between Iran and Afghanistan has increased by 20 percent in the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 21).

Ghanadzadeh said Iran is ready to cooperate with Afghanistan in the country’s development and reconstruction projects, Tehran Times reported.

The Iranian and Afghan governments are taking some prominent measures to boost trade between the two countries.

In early March, Iran’s trade center and permanent exhibition of Iranian products was inaugurated in Kabul with the aim of developing trade relations between the two countries.

Then in late July, a joint exhibition of products made in Iran and Afghanistan was held in Herat.

More recently the two countries signed five memorandums of understanding (MOUs) on cooperation in different economic sectors.

The MOUs were signed in a ceremony on November 9 in the presence of Iranian Agriculture Minister Mohammad-Ali Nikbakht, President Raisi’s special envoy for Afghanistan Hassan Kazemi Qomi, and Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.

The MOUs include the cooperation document of the Iran-Afghanistan Joint Economic Committee meeting, the document of the two sides’ Joint International Road Transport Cooperation Committee meeting, the MOU between Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) and the Afghan side, the MOU between Iran’s Esfahan Steel Company and the Afghan side, and the MOU between Iran’s Secretariat of Free Trade and Special Economic Zones and the Afghan sides, Tehran Times reported.

The Ministry of Mines and Petroleum (MoMP) says Qashqari oil wells in Sar-e-Pul province are pumping out at least 400 metric tons per day.

According to MoMP, oil extraction will start from new wells in the near future in the province, which will significantly increase the amount extracted.

Chamber of Commerce and Investments officials meanwhile say that the country holds a lot of oil and that the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum needs to encourage domestic investment.

“A joint company should be established and everyone should have their share and also a favorable environment for domestic investors in order to invest,” said Khanjan Alkozi, a member of ACCI.

Economic experts also believe that Afghanistan is rich in various natural resources, especially in oil, and if proper planning is done to utilize these resources, it can have a deep and positive impact on the economic development of the country.

“I am sure that the amount of oil production and extraction will increase and even we should be able to produce more than 1,000 tons, but the Taliban (Islamic Emirate) must take basic steps in this area and equalize all investment conditions,” said an economic analyst.

Local officials in Sar-e-Pul however said that the amount of oil extracted from Qashqari oil wells has increased to 900 tons daily, earning $600,000.