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Chamber meets with IEA to resolve challenges, including tax issues

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(Last Updated On: February 9, 2022)

Afghanistan’s Chamber of Craftsmen and Shopkeepers (ACS) said Tuesday that they are facing several challenges in the country including the expectation of exorbitant taxes.

In a meeting with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) and the ACS, the head of the chamber, Noorulhaq Omari called on the authorities to remove the challenges and work with investors and craftsmen to develop the sector.

Omari said if existing problems are not resolved, craftsmen will start evading tax and cease to operate in the country.

Other ACS members said that they cannot afford the taxes that have been imposed. They also urged the IEA to work with them to resolve their issues.

The Islamic Emirate, however, says that it has plans to sort out the problems – for small, medium and large businesses in the sector.

“The current tax [system], which has been in place for five years now, is not achievable in this current economic climate and will lead to tax evasion and a drop in activity,” said Omari.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the IEA’s spokesman, said substantial progress has been made in various fields in the last six months.

Mujahid said that all the energy used to end the war and the “occupation” by foreign troops will now be used “for the development of the country and the advancement of the economy and the country’s resources”.

Ministry of Finance officials meanwhile said they are looking at cutting tax for small businesses and craftsmen by more than 50 percent.

“We have offered you a discount of more than 50 percent. My request to you is not to count taxes as consumption. Tax is not consumption. This is an investment,” said Meraj Mohammad Meraj, Director General of Revenue of the Ministry of Finance.

The leadership of the Ministry of Economy also emphasized the need for people to support small businesses and craftsmen in the country.

“When there is no safe environment, people are worried, like you look at the last twenty years and the life that has passed,” said Sheikh Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, the Acting of the Ministry of Vice and Virtue of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

According to the ACS, 40 percent of the craftsmen lost their jobs due to COVID-19 and the lack of support from the previous government.

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Pakistan’s commerce delegation wraps up ‘successful’ trip to Kabul

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(Last Updated On: March 28, 2024)

Pakistan’s Charge d’Affaires for Afghanistan, Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani said in a video message on Wednesday that the recent talks between Islamabad’s commerce delegation and Afghan officials had been “successful” and that he hoped this would give fresh impetus to bilateral trade between the two countries.

“I’m happy to report that this was a successful visit and both sides have agreed to work together for mutual benefit on a number of areas.

“They will facilitate transit, they will facilitate bilateral trade and they will take all possible measures that create an environment for continuous and productive trade and economic relations between the two countries,” he said.

The delegation, led by Commerce Ministry Secretary Khurram Agha, arrived in Kabul on Monday and had numerous talks on various issues with Islamic Emirate officials.

The visit came amid deteriorating bilateral relations following several suicide attacks in Pakistan in the last couple of months that Islamabad attributes to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants, a group they claim is based in Afghanistan.

Diplomatic tensions between the two countries over the last few months have led to economic losses, as key border crossings for trade and travel have closed intermittently, resulting in goods trucks being held up at border posts.

Afghanistan’s Minister for Industry and Commerce Nurudin Azizi meanwhile said the IEA had held fruitful negotiations in a cordial environment with the visiting delegation.

“We discussed in detail with the Pakistani side specific issues related to heavy transport vehicles that will be resolved,” he said.

“We will achieve positive results as our discussions remained productive.”

Azizi said Afghanistan expected to sign a formal agreement with Pakistan within six months, allowing Pakistani trucks to enter Afghanistan and travel to the Central Asian states and Afghan trucks to go all the way to the Pakistani port cities of Karachi and Gwadar.

Apart from discussing trade-related issues, the two sides also focused on movement of passengers, patients and businesspeople across their common border during these talks.

Azizi noted uninterrupted trade and business between Kabul and Islamabad would play a significant role in creating a peaceful environment between the two countries and facilitate their economic development.

He said the two sides also pledged to enhance their existing trade volume, adding that both countries could become ideal markets for each other if they did not allow business to be affected by any geopolitical tensions.

Azizi also said Afghanistan could export agricultural products to China and other countries via Pakistan’s ports and cities.

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Turkey’s 77 keen to start up cement plant in Jawzjan

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(Last Updated On: March 27, 2024)

Turkish construction company 77 officials have met with the acting minister of mines and petroleum, Shahabuddin Delawar, about investing in a cement factory in Yatim Taq area of Jawzjan province.

The minister, Shahabuddin Dalawar, has said the ministry will cooperate with the company but first needs a proposal, including details around how they plan to implement the project as well as social development plans.

Turkey’s 77 company has been working on electricity generation projects in Afghanistan for several years.

A number of industrialists say that if more investment is made in the cement production sector, not only will domestic demand be met, but the country’s cement will also be exported.

At the moment, cement is being produced by private companies in the provinces of Kandahar, Parwan and Herat.

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Pakistan delegation discusses solutions with Azizi to resolve trade issues

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(Last Updated On: March 26, 2024)

Officials of the Afghan Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday held a meeting with the visiting delegation of Pakistan’s Ministry of Commerce where they discussed challenges around trade relations between the two countries.

The Acting Minister of Commerce and Industry Nooruddin Azizi said due to recent political tensions, trade and transit relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have faced problems. He said efforts are being made to find solutions to the existing problems and to distance political issues from trade issues.

The visiting delegation is in Kabul at the invitation of the ministry of commerce and industry.

Azizi said the Pakistani delegation said at the meeting that all commercial, transit and economic issues between the two countries will be discussed and efforts will be made to keep trade issues separate from political issues.

“We want to talk about issues that are especially in the field of trade and transit, and we want to prioritize all issues related to trade, we are trying to separate trade and transit from political issues,” said Azizi.

He also expressed hope that his meeting with the Pakistani delegation will help solve the existing challenges and improve and expand trade and transit relations between the two countries.

According to economic experts, since Afghanistan is a transit route between Central Asia and South Asia, the Islamic Emirate can use it to pressurize Pakistan so as not to create trade problems.

“Pressure should be put on Pakistan with the same means we have so that the agreement signed between us and Pakistan and they are forced to comply. We must use this agreement and use it correctly and we should be emotional and not say hostile words, but we want our right,” said Seyed Masoud, an economic expert.

Officials from the ministry also said that talks were held on other issues, including implementing the PTA preferential trade agreement or TAD, finalizing negotiations about APPTA, determining the date of air transit, 24-hour operations in the ports of Torkham, Chaman, and Spin Boldak.

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