Business
Afghanistan, Turkmenistan sign MoUs, seal private sector contracts
Afghanistan and Turkmenistan signed three memoranda of understanding (MoUs) and an economic cooperation agreement in Kabul on Wednesday for electricity and fiber optics.
In a statement issued by the Presidential Palace (ARG), two companies will be responsible for transferring 500 MW of electricity from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan and for connecting a fiber optics network. The companies are Afghanistan’s Bayat Group and Turkmenistan's Chalak Company.
During the official signing ceremony, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani thanked the two companies for their cooperation and said Turkmenistan and Afghanistan are proving to be good neighbors amid efforts to strengthen diplomatic and economic ties.
“Thanks to the presence of Bayat Group and Chalak Private Company, it shows that Afghan and international private companies have joined hands to provide electricity,” Ghani was quoted in the statement as having said.
“Fiber optics is the infrastructure of the 21st century and this infrastructure gives hope to our youth. Innovative work in the 21st century is impossible without a comprehensive understanding of fiber optic networks, connectivity and modern technology,” he stated.
Representing Turkmenistan at the event was Turkmen Ambassador to Afghanistan Ovezov Hoja Sapargeldievich.
The ambassador said talks between the presidents of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan had always been about bilateral cooperation and partnership. He said his country supports all efforts and initiatives for peace and stability in Afghanistan and hoped that Afghanistan would achieve peace as soon as possible.
Ghani in turn thanked the ambassador and the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow and said that with ongoing efforts to strengthen ties new avenues, including the lapus lazuli and silk road routes, were projects that will be delivered on.
He said the countries were today able to revisit history and make up for the time lost in recent years.
Ghani also said the TAPI pipeline project would benefit both countries and the people of Afghanistan.
"Turkmenistan is a good neighbor not only to Afghanistan, but to all of us, and we are going back to our ancient roots," he said.
Business
Afghanistan-India trade volume totals $650 million so far this year
Trade between Afghanistan and India totals $650 million in the first 10 months of this year, the Islamic Emirate’s Ministry of Industry and Commerce announced this weekend.
In a post on X on Saturday, the ministry’s spokesman Abdulsalam Jawad Akhundzada said $477 million in exports and $203 million in imports were recorded this year.
He said Afghanistan’s main exports to India included dried figs, raisins, saffron, green cumin, and almonds.
According to Akhundzada, the main items imported from India over the past 10 months were sugar, raw materials for industrial factories, new clothing, and roasted chickpeas.
Just last week, JP Singh, Indian foreign ministry’s joint secretary for the Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran division, visited Kabul and met with Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.
The two sides discussed political and economic relations between Afghanistan and India, and people's movements, the Afghan foreign ministry said in a statement.
Muttaqi expressed hope that relations between India and Afghanistan would expand in various fields. He stressed that to develop trade relations, Indian visa facilities should be increased for Afghan citizens, especially businesspersons.
According to the statement, JP Singh said that relations with Afghanistan are important for India and have an ancient history.
The Indian diplomat said that along with humanitarian aid to Afghans, India has also started development assistance to Afghanistan and is engaged in technical discussions with relevant Afghan institutions.
JP Singh stressed that in the near future, negotiations will be held between technical delegations of regional countries including Afghanistan and India on the Chabahar port.
He also promised to increase Indian visa facilities for Afghans.
Business
Iran’s non-oil exports to Afghanistan rise by 31% this solar year
Iran’s imports from Afghanistan also rose sharply, totalling over $33 million, a 192% increase in this period
Iran's non-oil exports to Afghanistan surged by 31% in the first half of this solar year (April to September 2024), totalling over $1.77 billion.
According to Iran’s trade association in Afghanistan, both the value and volume of non-oil exports to Afghanistan saw substantial growth.
Statistics provided by the association indicate that nearly 560,000 tons of Iranian goods, including iron, steel, cement, eggs, and potatoes, were exported to Afghanistan during this period.
Iran’s imports from Afghanistan also rose sharply, totalling over $33 million, a 192% increase in this period.
The primary exports to Iran included barley, corn, peanuts, and chilies.
Business
Private sectors of Afghanistan, Kazakhstan sign contracts worth $100 million
Private sectors of Afghanistan and Kazakhstan have signed contracts worth $100 million during the visit of an Afghan delegation to Almaty recently, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) announced on Thursday.
The agreements include the export of more than 2,000 tons of dried fruit, the export of fresh fruit, including pomegranates, and the export of cotton, Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Islamic Emirate, said on X.
Mujahid said that the Islamic Emirate delegation during its recent visit to Kazakhstan signed a "road map of cooperation between Afghanistan and Kazakhstan in the fields of trade, industry, mining, energy, logistics, agriculture, telecommunications, health, higher education and humanitarian aid.”
He said Kazakhstan also assured that it would provide more facilities for the transit of Afghan goods to China and other countries through Kazakhstan.
The allocation of an area "as a logistics center for Afghan goods" in the port of Khargos was also part of the agreement between the two sides to facilitate the unloading and loading of Afghan traders' goods.
The spokesman of the Islamic Emirate also said that Kazakhstan will participate in the construction of the Torghundi-Herat, Kandahar-Spin Boldak and Mazar-e-Sharif-Kharlachi railway projects.
Mujahid added that Kazakhstan will also participate in the establishment of a trade and transit center in Herat province, which will be used to store and finance trade and transit goods. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan has agreed to establish permanent expo centers for the sale of Afghan goods in various cities of Kazakhstan.
It is worth mentioning that the delegation of the Islamic Emirate led by Nooruddin Azizi, Acting Minister of Industry and Commerce, participated in the three-day exhibition of Afghanistan's domestic products, which was launched on October 21 in Almaty.
The Ministry of Industry and Commerce recently announced that 23 tons of pomegranates from Kandahar province were exported to Almaty through the port of Torghundi.
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