Direct flights between Herat’s Khwaja Abdullah Ansari International Airport and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates have begun, marking a new air link for passengers travelling between the two cities.

Airport officials said 53 passengers were carried on the inaugural flight from Herat to Dubai, half of them Iranian nationals.

The new route is expected to operate once a week, providing passengers and business travellers with a direct connection between Herat and Dubai.

Officials at Khwaja Abdullah Ansari International Airport also said direct flights from Herat to Tehran and Istanbul are expected to launch in the coming weeks, further expanding the city’s international air connections.

Afghanistan has shared Ministry of Industry and Commerce’s key priorities with donor institutions and international organizations, focusing on investment, support for domestic businesses, export expansion and job creation.

The priorities were presented at the seventh meeting on aligning the priorities of Afghanistan’s sectoral institutions with development partners, held on Wednesday in in Kabul.

According to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, the ministry’s priorities include creating investment opportunities across the country, establishing business centers, supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, improving the marketing of domestic products, and expanding the processing and packaging of locally manufactured goods.

The agenda also includes expanding exports and strengthening productive industries, with the broader aim of promoting economic growth, supporting the private sector and creating employment opportunities.

The meeting was intended to help coordinate future assistance and development cooperation with the ministry’s identified priorities.

Representatives of donor institutions and international organizations welcomed the initiative and thanked the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce for sharing the priorities. They said they would align their future assistance and cooperation with the areas identified.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has told Russian President Vladimir Putin that countries in the Middle East can resolve regional problems without relying on the United States, as Tehran and Moscow pledged to deepen cooperation amid heightened regional tensions.

Pezeshkian made the remarks during a meeting with Putin in Moscow on Tuesday, October 27, on the sidelines of the eighth summit of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF).

“I believe we are capable of resolving our problems in the region without relying on the United States,” Pezeshkian told Putin, arguing that regional countries have the capacity to address their own challenges through cooperation.

The Iranian president said growing trade between Tehran and Moscow reflected strengthening ties between the two countries. He added that US actions were encouraging closer cooperation among Russia, Iran and other countries facing unilateral American sanctions.

Pezeshkian also called for expanded bilateral cooperation across scientific, economic, industrial, cultural, security and military fields, thanking Moscow for its political, economic and security support for Iran.

Putin, meanwhile, said trade between Russia and Iran had continued to grow and confirmed that construction work at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant was progressing.

The Russian president also acknowledged the seriousness of the regional situation, saying he and Pezeshkian had discussed developments during a private conversation and expressing hope that events would move in a positive direction.

The meeting comes as Moscow seeks to support diplomatic efforts to prevent a renewed escalation in the Middle East. Negotiations between Washington and Tehran have remained stalled following the outbreak of war on February 28, when US-Israeli strikes targeted Iran.

Both Washington and Israel have threatened to resume strikes against Iran, adding to uncertainty over the prospects for a diplomatic settlement.

The talks in Moscow underscore the growing importance Tehran places on its partnership with Russia as it seeks to strengthen economic and political ties with countries outside the Western sphere.