Business

Railway Authority sees marked increase in rail cargo volume over past year

Published

1 year ago

April 11, 2023

(Last Updated On: April 11, 2023)

Afghanistan Railway Authority officials said on Monday at a press conference that during the year 1401, 4.67 million metric tons of goods were transferred by rail into the country.

“During the year 1401, a total of 4,673,929 metric tons of transfers were made through the Hairatan, Aqena and Torghondi ports which is a 36 percent increase compared to last year,” said Mullah Bakhtur Rahman Sharaf, head of the railway authority.

According to Sharaf, a total of 3.1 billion afghanis in revenue has been collected through the management of railways coming into the country.

Officials said that during the year 1401, a total of 12,492 metric tons of exports, 253,603 metric tons of transit and 4,407,834 metric tons of imports were handled by the country’s ports, most of which were dry and fresh fruits, food items, and minerals.

Sharaf said that during the last solar year, visits have been made to the countries of Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Iran in order to strengthen the level of regional cooperation, create an economic corridor and start the preliminary stages of implementing the Trans-Afghan railway project.

ARA officials said the contract for services and transfers at Hairatan – Mazar-e-Sharif port, which was previously signed with the Uzbek Sogdiana Trans Company at a total cost of about $32 million dollars, has been renewed but at a vast reduction. Fees are now $3.7 million dollars.

Officials say that during the last year, necessary coordination has been provided to technical teams from Uzbekistan and Pakistan, and as a result of the initial survey of the Trans Afghanistan route, work will soon start. Once complete, this will connect the countries of Central Asia with Afghanistan through to South Asia.

According to the officials, the restoration of parts of the Khaf-Herat Railway Project, the completion of work on the Aqina-Andkhoy railway line and its handover by Turkmenistan to the IEA government, training of 39 railway authority employees by Iran and Turkmenistan and obtaining scholarships from neighboring countries are other achievements in the past solar year.

According to the officials, in order to provide better and reliable services, speed up the process of transfers and collect revenues in a transparent manner, continuous efforts have been started to digitize the systems.

Related Topics:Afghanistan export featured import rail cargo volume Railway Authority Transit

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Commerce ministry inks 10 MoUs to boost development of small and medium-sized businesses

Published

7 hours ago

April 19, 2024

Ariana News

(Last Updated On: April 19, 2024)

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry said Thursday it has signed cooperation agreements with ten institutions to support the development of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Nooruddin Azizi, Acting Minister of Commerce and Industry, said: “In the implementation of projects, we must pay special attention to our activities and actions and try to make useful use of the projects according to the requirements and benefit the beneficiaries.”

These ten institutions are to present their projects, the total value of which is around over $1.1 million. The projects will be carried out in Kabul, Baghlan, Ghor, Herat, Logar, Nangarhar, Balkh, Badakhshan and Jawzjan provinces and provide direct jobs for about 1,000.

To date, the ministry has signed MoUs for 72 projects in total, collectively valued at about $53.6 million.

These agreements have been signed with domestic and foreign companies for the establishment of small and medium-sized businesses.

In accordance with the principles and laws of the Islamic Emirate and prioritizing the implementation of projects for immigrants and returnees and internally displaced people, the ministry said 635,865 people will benefit through jobs directly and over 4.3 million will benefit indirectly in 25 provinces once these projects are implemented.

Business

Export volume totals over $140 million in last month of 1402

Published

2 days ago

April 17, 2024

Ariana News

(Last Updated On: April 17, 2024)

The National Statistics and Information Authority (NSIA) confirmed Tuesday that in the last month of solar year 1402, (March 2024) Afghanistan’s exports totaled $141.1 million and imports totaled $789.6 million.

This was down from $174 million for exports in the same period in 1401. However, imports increased by $99.2 million in 1402, up from $690.4 million.

Most exports in the last month of 1402 went to Pakistan, India and the United Arab Emirates, while in the last month of 1401 exports went to Pakistan, India and China.

Business

Afghanistan-Kazakhstan chamber of commerce opens in Herat

Published

4 days ago

April 15, 2024

Ariana News

(Last Updated On: April 15, 2024)

The Ministry of Interior said the governor of Herat province Islam Jar met with Alim Khan Yasin Gildaye, Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Afghanistan, to discuss various issues around trade.

According to the ministry, the two sides discussed the expansion of trade facilities, increasing the volume of trade exchanges between traders of the two countries, reducing customs tariffs, solving the challenges of traders and issuing visas to them.

The Afghanistan-Kazakhstan Chamber of Commerce has been opened in Herat in order to facilitate and increase trade between the two countries.