Business
‘Insecurity, Floods’ Hamper Bakhshabad Dam Project in Farah
It has been a year since the contract was signed for construction of Bakhshabad water dam in western Farah province but work on the project yet to begin.
Bakhshabad dam is one of the important economic projects in Afghanistan that will be built on Farah Rud River.
Last year, the government signed the contract worth $4.5 million with an Italian firm to build the dam. The minister of Water and Energy, Ali Ahmad Osmani says insecurity and floods have delayed the dam’s initial works.
“Since last few weeks, we started working on the geological and topographic survey [mapping of the natural location] in the dam.”
“After ending the diversion tunnel’s design work, we aim to start working on the construction of the tunnel as well, which takes a long time, so it could pave the way for building the frame of the dam.”
The dam has the capacity to generate 27 megawatts of electricity and irrigate 104 thousand hectares of land. With 81 meters of height, it will be capable of reserving 1,360 million cubic meters of water.
The dam, meanwhile, would be effective for expansion of the forests and handling floods in the province.
The Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock Ministry spokesman, Lotfullah Rashed said: “The completion of the dam will be a significant step to irrigate about 100 thousand hectares of land, and it will play an important role on the crops being obtained from these areas next year.”
Business
Acting commerce minister meets Russian deputy PM
Nooruddin Azizi, Acting Minister of Industry and Commerce, met with Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk to discuss trade and investment, it was announced on Friday.
Sergey Pavlov, General Director of Russian Railways, and Dmitry Zverev, Deputy Minister of Transport of Russia, were also present in the meeting, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce said in a statement.
According to the statement, the two sides discussed increasing the volume of trade, preferential tariff for Afghan goods, Russian investment in mines and water dams in Afghanistan, and Afghanistan’s role in the International North–South Transport Corridor.
They also discussed about reducing the cost of transportation through the Russian railway, removing the export tax on basic materials, arranging the trip of the delegation to the ports of Astrakhan and Makhachkala, and holding a trade connectivity conference and an expo of Afghan products in Moscow.
Azizi met with the Russian deputy PM on the sidelines of the Kazan Forum – the 15th International Economic Forum of Russia and the Islamic World.
He also met with representatives of a number of Tatarstan and Russia companies and encouraged them to invest in Afghanistan.
Business
Azizi meets with head of Tatarstan on sidelines of Kazan Forum
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry said Thursday acting minister Nooruddin Azizi met with the leader of Russia’s autonomous republic of Tatarstan, Rustam Nurgaliyevich Minnikhanov, on the sidelines of a meeting in Kazan.
According to the ministry, Azizi met with Minnikhanov on the sidelines of the Kazan Forum – the 15th International Economic Forum of Russia and the Islamic World.
The two officials discussed bilateral trade relations, the establishment of the Russian Trade House in Afghanistan, the visit of Minnikhanov to Kabul, investment in electricity production, water transfer, mining, cultural and economic cooperation and other matters.
This annual meeting is held by Russia and the 14th round of this meeting was also held in the same country last year.
The main goal of the forum is to strengthen trade and economic, scientific and technical, social and cultural ties between Russian regions and the countries of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), as well as to promote the development of the Islamic financial system institutions in Russia.
Business
Afghanistan’s imports and exports totaled $10.3 billion last year
The National Statistics and Information Authority (NSIA) said on Wednesday that last year, the value of exports totaled $1.79 billion while imports totaled $8.57 billion.
According to NSIA, fruits accounted for the largest share of export items last year, totaling over $645 million.
Medicinal plants, minerals and vegetables were the next top three items respectively to be exported.
Meanwhile, petroleum and oil accounted for the largest portion of imported goods, totaling over $1.37 billion.
Another large portion of the total amount imported went to machinery, vehicles and parts. This totaled over $1.15 billion, followed by textiles, metals and metal products.
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