International Trade Center Holds Information Workshops For Afghan Merchants

Officials in the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries said on Wednesday that the exported goods of Afghan merchants to Europe lack good quality and safety.

According to ACCI, Afghan merchants are not familiar with the Europe standards including food safety and quality while exporting goods; and this has turned to a challenge for them. 

ACCI said that as a solution to the problem, the International Trade Center (ITC) has started holding information workshops for Afghan merchants.

ACCI said that the workshops are to familiarize the Afghan merchants with the standard exports to Europe.

Officials in the ITC said that if Afghan merchants want to do exports to European countries, they must follow their standards. 

“Different countries of the world have food safeties and European countries have their own standards. Afghan merchants can do more exports to Europe only if they consider those Europe standards,” said Patrick Deboweser.

Based on the information, Afghan merchants exported saffron, carpet, and melon all worth 20 million dollars last year.

“We have an annual export of goods worth 20 million dollars and there is room for increasing it; we are working on to make it happen,” said Shafiqullah Ataei, the deputy of ACCI.

This comes as the officials at ACCI say that they want to increase the country’s exports’ value to one billion dollars in a year.