Business
Pakistan hands over 3,600 tons of wheat seed to Afghanistan
Pakistan on Monday handed over the first consignment of 3,600 metric tons of wheat seed to Afghanistan as a gesture of goodwill.
Pakistan’s Ambassador to Afghanistan Mansoor Ahmad Khan handed over the consignment, 28 truckloads, to Afghanistan’s Deputy Minister of Agriculture Maulana Fazl Bari Fazli at the Torkham border crossing.
Speaking to the media, Mansoor Ahmad Khan said that the Pakistani government has been cooperating with the Afghan government and its people on humanitarian grounds.
Pakistan has brotherly relations with Afghanistan and extends full cooperation to provide food, medicine, education and medical aid to the Afghan government, he said.
He said that emergency facilities were being provided to patients from Afghanistan while talks were underway between the two governments to permanently resolve the difficulties being faced by Afghan medical patients at border crossings.
He further said that the government of Pakistan has set up three big hospitals in Afghanistan and measures are being taken to up-grade these hospitals so that Afghans get good medical facilities in their own country.
The Pakistani ambassador said that steps have also been taken to expedite and facilitate trade between the two countries adding that due to certain situations in Afghanistan the trade volume has been affected between the two countries.
To promote trade and to solve the problems of the business community, Islamabad and Kabul want to rehabilitate the existing highway and construct a separate route for trade. He said Pakistan would continue its cooperation with Afghanistan to strengthen bilateral relations.
Business
Afghanistan starts exporting via railway to Turkey
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.
Business
Afghanistan, Kazakhstan to hold joint expo in Kabul
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.
Business
Afghanistan’s economic prospects are bleak: World Bank
The absence of GDP growth coupled with declining external financing avenues for off-budget expenditures paint a bleak picture of Afghanistan’s economic prospects, the World Bank said.
After a severe 20.7 percent GDP contraction in 2021, the Afghan economy contracted further by 6.2 percent in 2022, the bank said in a report.
“While Afghanistan’s agricultural and subsistence economy, including illicit opium production, provided some resilience in rural areas, higher prices, reduced demand, lower employment, and disruptions to services had severe impacts across the country,” it said.
The proportion of households that did not have enough income to meet basic food needs more than doubled from 16 percent to 36 percent in this period, according to the bank.
In the context of deep concerns about the policies of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), including restrictions imposed on women and girls, the international community, including the World Bank, recalibrated its approach to supporting Afghanistan: first to providing humanitarian support and then to providing off-budget support for basic service delivery and livelihoods.
However, IEA moved to restore domestic revenues, which reached $2.2 billion or 15 percent of GDP in 2022. “Nevertheless, overall economic activity remained depressed, unemployment stayed high, and the banking sector was dysfunctional due to constraints on international transfers and concerns about liquidity and solvency.”
World Bank said that Afghanistan’s economic outlook remains uncertain, with the threat of stagnation looming large until at least 2025. “This economic stagnation will deepen poverty and unemployment, with job opportunities expected to decrease and food insecurity expected to increase.”
The bank noted that for a sustainable future, Afghanistan needs to focus on its comparative advantages, particularly in the agricultural and extractive sectors. Agriculture could be a key driver of growth and poverty reduction, with the potential to create jobs, it added.
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