Business
Afghanistan’s Trade with Pakistan ‘Declines’ Up to 60 Percent
Afghanistan’s trade value with Pakistan has been declined up to 60 percent since last year, as part of Kabul’s strategic efforts to reduce its reliance on Islamabad, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.
Trade volume between the two neighboring countries has fallen drastically in the past two years due to frequent border closures, and a prevailing political rift amid allegations of cross-border terrorism.
Khalid Painda, the Deputy Minister of Finance said that Afghanistan wants to have good trade relation with Pakistan, but stressed that Islamabad is not ready for cooperation with Kabul.
“The National Unity Government strategy is to get out of monopoly and have good [trade] relations with different countries,” he said.
A day earlier, President Ashraf Ghani met with Indian top government officials including Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, where he discussed on range of issues including air trade corridor between Kabul and New Delhi and efforts for early operationalization of the Chahbahar Port.
In the meeting Indian side reiterated the readiness of its Integrated Check Post at Attari for receiving Afghan trucks carrying goods to and from India, following the reported move taken by President Ghani to ban Pakistani trucks from entering Afghanistan.
Nooruddin Azizi, Acting Minister of Commerce and Industry, met with representatives from the ministries of foreign affairs, defense and interior of Malaysia, along with other senior officials, on Wednesday and called on Malaysians to invest in Afghanistan.
The visiting delegation is being led by senior diplomat Dr. Shazelina Zainul Abidin.
According to the IEA’s foreign ministry, the two sides discussed bilateral trade, holding a business communication conference to strengthen trade relations between the two countries, the trade balance between Afghanistan and Malaysia, and creating a market for Afghan products, including carpets, cotton, and minerals.
According to the ministry, at the end of the meeting, the Acting Minister emphasized the increase of investment from regional countries in Afghanistan and called on Malaysian investors to also invest in Afghanistan.
The Ministry of Interior says that Afghanistan has started exporting goods to Turkey via the Herat-Khaf railway line.
In a post on X, the ministry said: “Afghanistan’s exports to Turkey started in a calm atmosphere through the Herat-Khaf railway line.”
The ministry added that one train will run daily for a month and then two trains will run daily.
According to the ministry, the security of Khaf-Herat railway line is provided by the guards of the National Public Protection Agency.
Khaf-Herat railway project not only connects Iran and Afghanistan by rail, but also completes a 2,000-kilometer route along the east-west rail corridor from China, through Uzbekistan, to Afghanistan, to Iran, and on to Turkey and Europe.
As a landlocked country, this railway network will provide a safe route to connect with Europe via Iran’s railway network and Iran’s southern ports.
This railway line is strategic for trade between Iran and Afghanistan and will allow six million tons of goods to be sent between the two countries.
A joint expo between Afghanistan and Kazakhstan will be held in Kabul in the next four days, officials said on Sunday.
Officials of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce said that the two-day expo will be held for the purpose of expanding and strengthening trade relations between the two countries.
“This expo will be held as a follow-up of the Kazakh-Afghan international expo, which was held in the city of Astana, Kazakhstan, with the participation of a large delegation of the government and the private sector of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” Abdulsalam Javad Akhundzadeh, the spokesman of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, said.
“At this expo, domestic products from different sectors of Afghanistan and the Republic of Kazakhstan will be put on display for two days.”
According to officials, 40 large Kazakh companies, and 40 large Afghan companies will exhibit their products.
Mohammad Saber Latifi, head of the Afghanistan International Expo Center, said that fruits, minerals and commercial services will be displayed at the expo.
During the expo, various memorandums of understanding for the trade of goods are also expected to be signed by companies.
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