KABUL: The officials of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) have announced the expansion of trade with neighboring countries, saying that the government was determined to start good trade relations with other regional countries through Afghanistan, an official from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) told The Kabul Times.
“The Ministry of Commerce and Industry announced the first transit shipment of Indian exports worth $ 200,000 via Pakistan and Afghanistan to Uzbekistan. “The ministry says Afghanistan will earn one million afghanis a day from the bilateral business. “Mawlana Zaheer, spokesperson to MoCI said that the shipments sent to Uzbekistan via Pakistan and Afghanistan included 120 tons of sugar and 20 tons of beef. “He further said that it has been IEA’s motto to turn Afghanistan into an economic crossroad, and the shipment of goods today is a great example and beginning to it.“The spokesperson did not comment on when or where the agreement on the transfer of India’s first transit shipment of goods through Pakistan and Afghanistan to Uzbekistan was signed.
“In addition to Pakistan, the ministry says transit agreements have been signed with India and Bangladesh too, some of which are being implemented, the official added. He further said that India could transfer its commercial goods from the Afghan ports as Sher Khan, Hairatan, Aqina and Torghundi to central Asian countries. Afghanistan’s neutrality on India and Pakistan has been maintained by the IEA government. “The ministry said that a trade and transit meeting among Pakistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan was to be held in Tashkent in the coming days. Previously, such projects were not facilitated due to security concerns between India and Afghanistan in the former republic administration. According to economic experts, Afghanistan is the shortest transit route between these countries and the implementation of such trade will have many benefits for Afghanistan. According to them, in the previous administration, there was no security platform for this trade between India and Afghanistan, and this was not possible.
Now India is satisfied with the safety of this route, and therefore this is the first time the trade has taken place. There is a law for transit through land and airspace and everything about taxation is clear, which we hope will be implemented and will have a great economic benefit for Afghanistan.“According to them, the benefit of these transactions is that in addition to creating jobs for Afghan citizens and increasing financial incomes, a number of countries such as India, China and Uzbekistan that use railways to connect and transport commercial goods will help Afghanistan in construction of such routes. “Under the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA), Islamabad allows Kabul to use Pakistani water ports, land and air routes for international trade while Afghan businessmen have always complained about Pakistan’s non-compliance with the terms of the agreement. According to the agreement, Afghan traders can export their goods to India by land, air and water, but due to the tense relations between Islamabad and New Delhi, they can import Indian goods only by water. “Abdul Razzaq Dawood, adviser to the Pakistani prime minister, wrote on his Twitter page earlier this month that they had reached an agreement with Afghanistan to allow the free movement of trucks for the transit of commercial goods. He described the new move as an important step towards regional connectivity. He further said that under the new agreement between Afghanistan and Pakistan, the licensed trucks would start traveling between the two countries on March 21. However, Pakistan recently allowed India to use the land route to transport 50,000 tons of wheat as part of India’s humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.“
Amiri
IEA expanding business with neighboring countries
