Business

Envoy says Pakistan and Afghanistan will have to resolve trade issues themselves

Published

1 year ago

July 28, 2023

Pakistan and Afghanistan would have to resolve their problems themselves, especially trade issues. International community and regional powers want to keep the two neighboring countries engaged in minor issues while the policymakers of the two countries need to sit together and remove the hurdles in the way of beneficially mutual trade.

This was the crux of the seminar on ‘Pak-Afghan Bilateral Trade Relations’ organized by the Institute of Regional Studies on Wednesday.

Afghan Consul General in Peshawar, Hafiz Mohibullah, was the guest of honor.

IRA Chairman Dr Mohammad Iqbal Khalil, Director Pak-Afghan Chamber Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, member of the chamber Shahid Hussain and a columnist Alamgir Afridi spoke at the event.

The speakers said that certain elements want to create and maintain tension between the two countries.

They said the leadership of the two Muslim countries should work out a solution to the economic challenges faced by them.

Hafiz Mohibullah said that instead of looking to others, the two countries would have to solve their political and economic problems themselves.

He said during America’s 20-year occupation of the country, the US and NATO could not establish a single institution or hospital in Afghanistan. Also, he added, the US and NATO failed to take any steps for the economic betterment of Afghanistan.

“All that the US and NATO did in Afghanistan during their stay was to spread destruction. On the other hand the government of Islamic Emirate carried out such projects during its one-year rule in the country which could not be done by the occupation forces and their puppet government(s) during 20 years,” he claimed.

He said the former president of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani had control over just one-third of the country, while the Islamic Emirate’s control extended to every nook and corner of the country. The diplomat said the world nations have not yet formally recognised the rule of the Islamic Emirate. But, interestingly they were making various demands to the Taliban government, he added.

About Afghanistan-Pakistan relations, Hafiz Mohibullah said both the countries needed the help and support of each other. The way the people of the two countries supported each other in the past, they should have mutual cooperation for promotion of bilateral trade.

“If they support each other to promote their mutual trade, they would not be in need of looking towards others,” he remarked.

He said that the US and NATO wanted to create problems, but the leadership of the two countries would not allow them to interfere in their affairs. This way they would overcome their economic issues, he said.

Dr Iqbal Khalil said the two countries were connected with each other in all the sectors and their cooperation would result in the development of both the countries. He said that Afghanistan and Pakistan were confronting trade and economic challenges which they should mutually overcome.

The speaker said that despite their important geo-strategic position, the mutual trade between the two countries has decreased instead of showing an increase.

He said that Afghanistan was the major market for trade and industry of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Dr Iqbal Khalil expressed his optimism that peace would be restored in Afghanistan and the government of Islamic Emirate would give a roadmap for trade relations with Pakistan.

Ziaul Haq Sarhadi said the trade volume between Afghanistan and Pakistan during 2022-23 was $968 million, while it was $2.5 billion in 2012.

He said the trade agreement of 1965 between the countries functioned smoothly for 45 years. But in 2010 a new agreement was signed, which was protested by traders and chambers of both the countries. This agreement is not useful and it has become virtually ineffective, he said. This issue needs to be resolved, he added.

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Afghanistan-India trade volume totals $650 million so far this year

Published

5 days ago

November 10, 2024

Ariana News

Trade between Afghanistan and India totals $650 million in the first 10 months of this year, the Islamic Emirate’s Ministry of Industry and Commerce announced this weekend.

In a post on X on Saturday, the ministry’s spokesman Abdulsalam Jawad Akhundzada said $477 million in exports and $203 million in imports were recorded this year.

He said Afghanistan’s main exports to India included dried figs, raisins, saffron, green cumin, and almonds.

According to Akhundzada, the main items imported from India over the past 10 months were sugar, raw materials for industrial factories, new clothing, and roasted chickpeas.

Just last week, JP Singh, Indian foreign ministry’s joint secretary for the Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran division, visited Kabul and met with Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.

The two sides discussed political and economic relations between Afghanistan and India, and people's movements, the Afghan foreign ministry said in a statement.

Muttaqi expressed hope that relations between India and Afghanistan would expand in various fields. He stressed that to develop trade relations, Indian visa facilities should be increased for Afghan citizens, especially businesspersons.

According to the statement, JP Singh said that relations with Afghanistan are important for India and have an ancient history.

The Indian diplomat said that along with humanitarian aid to Afghans, India has also started development assistance to Afghanistan and is engaged in technical discussions with relevant Afghan institutions.

JP Singh stressed that in the near future, negotiations will be held between technical delegations of regional countries including Afghanistan and India on the Chabahar port.

He also promised to increase Indian visa facilities for Afghans.

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

Published

2 weeks ago

November 4, 2024

Ariana News

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

Published

2 weeks ago

November 1, 2024

Ariana News

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.