Business
Economy ministry to help strengthen Afghan carpet industry
The Ministry of Economy says it supports the carpet industry and intends to provide more facilities for the sector.
During an event on Sunday, a number of officials said that supporting the carpet industry is the priority of the Islamic Emirate and that they are trying to use domestic products, especially carpets, to counter the excessive import of foreign products.
Abdul Latif Nazari, deputy economy minister, said that the granting of small loans by a private bank to carpet manufacturers is an important step to support the carpet industry.
“The policy of the system (IEA) is to support domestic products, the carpet industry can play a prominent and graceful role in increasing our domestic productions along with other products,” said Nazari.
Qudratullah Jamal, deputy minister of industry and commerce, also said that the challenges and problems facing the carpet industry in the country will be solved and he emphasized that this ministry is one of the main supporters of the carpet industry in the country.
Meanwhile, some carpet producers in the country say that this year carpet production has increased by 40 percent because more people are engaged in carpet weaving this year.
“The amount of production has increased, but unfortunately, the challenges of exporting carpets abroad have caused us problems,” said Ismatullah, a carpet manufacturer.
Business
Iran’s non-oil exports to Afghanistan rise by 31% this solar year
Iran’s imports from Afghanistan also rose sharply, totalling over $33 million, a 192% increase in this period
Iran's non-oil exports to Afghanistan surged by 31% in the first half of this solar year (April to September 2024), totalling over $1.77 billion.
According to Iran’s trade association in Afghanistan, both the value and volume of non-oil exports to Afghanistan saw substantial growth.
Statistics provided by the association indicate that nearly 560,000 tons of Iranian goods, including iron, steel, cement, eggs, and potatoes, were exported to Afghanistan during this period.
Iran’s imports from Afghanistan also rose sharply, totalling over $33 million, a 192% increase in this period.
The primary exports to Iran included barley, corn, peanuts, and chilies.
Business
Private sectors of Afghanistan, Kazakhstan sign contracts worth $100 million
Private sectors of Afghanistan and Kazakhstan have signed contracts worth $100 million during the visit of an Afghan delegation to Almaty recently, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) announced on Thursday.
The agreements include the export of more than 2,000 tons of dried fruit, the export of fresh fruit, including pomegranates, and the export of cotton, Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Islamic Emirate, said on X.
Mujahid said that the Islamic Emirate delegation during its recent visit to Kazakhstan signed a "road map of cooperation between Afghanistan and Kazakhstan in the fields of trade, industry, mining, energy, logistics, agriculture, telecommunications, health, higher education and humanitarian aid.”
He said Kazakhstan also assured that it would provide more facilities for the transit of Afghan goods to China and other countries through Kazakhstan.
The allocation of an area "as a logistics center for Afghan goods" in the port of Khargos was also part of the agreement between the two sides to facilitate the unloading and loading of Afghan traders' goods.
The spokesman of the Islamic Emirate also said that Kazakhstan will participate in the construction of the Torghundi-Herat, Kandahar-Spin Boldak and Mazar-e-Sharif-Kharlachi railway projects.
Mujahid added that Kazakhstan will also participate in the establishment of a trade and transit center in Herat province, which will be used to store and finance trade and transit goods. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan has agreed to establish permanent expo centers for the sale of Afghan goods in various cities of Kazakhstan.
It is worth mentioning that the delegation of the Islamic Emirate led by Nooruddin Azizi, Acting Minister of Industry and Commerce, participated in the three-day exhibition of Afghanistan's domestic products, which was launched on October 21 in Almaty.
The Ministry of Industry and Commerce recently announced that 23 tons of pomegranates from Kandahar province were exported to Almaty through the port of Torghundi.
Business
China resumes direct rail trade with Afghanistan
China resumed its direct freight rail services to Afghanistan on Thursday when a train loaded with goods left Nantong city in Jiangsu province.
The train, carrying commercial goods in 55 wagons, is heading for the northern Hairatan border in Balkh province, Yue Xiaoyong, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Special Representative for Afghanistan, said in a post on X.
Nantong is a central hub of the Belt and Road Initiative and is located north of Shanghai.
The resumption of the rail line was marked at a formal ceremony on Thursday with Yue and Bilal Karimi, the Afghan Ambassador to China, in attendance.
This comes after China recently announced plans to lift customs tariffs on Afghan exports to China by the end of this year, further strengthening trade ties between the two nations.
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