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EU helps Afghanistan with debt relief amid ongoing pandemic

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(Last Updated On: April 6, 2021)

The EU announced Tuesday it will provide Afghanistan with 2.9 million Euros in grant funding to be used towards debt relief in a bid to help the country maintain its commitment and path towards reaching its Sustainable Development Goals.

The EU said in a statement the ongoing pandemic has carried severe health, social and economic consequences around the world, including in Afghanistan. In many developing countries, debt levels were already high before the crisis and are now at risk of becoming unsustainable.

“Afghanistan has to cope with sharply declining revenue as a consequence of the crisis, driven by restrictions on economic activity and trade. Tax revenue dropped by 40 percent in April–May 2020 while the expenditure burden for health and other social services increased,” the statement read.

“The Afghan government successfully managed to borrow considerable amounts in highly concessional loans from the IMF to cover its fiscal deficit during the crisis. Although Afghanistan’s debt level still remains low, the current revenue position increased vulnerability,” read the statement.

EU Chargé d’ Affaires Arnout Pauwels meanwhile said: “Today’s announcement is good news for Afghanistan, as this additional funding will free space to increase the social, health and economic spending in response to the COVID-19 crisis.

“This comes in addition to the substantial support the EU has already provided to Afghanistan to tackle the pandemic, both bilaterally and through the COVAX facility,” he said.

The support announced Tuesday will also contribute to Afghanistan’s macro-economic stability. This comes at an important moment, as the EU’s assessment of the government’s performance on the 2020 State and Resilience Budget Support begins. For years, economic stability and sound public finance management have been at the heart of the EU’s dialogue with countries receiving EU budget support.

Since the start of the pandemic, the EU has mobilised almost 147 million euros to Afghanistan to address the immediate health crisis and provide humanitarian assistance to the people in need. As the largest donor to the COVAX facility, the EU and its member states have also enabled the delivery of almost 500,000 doses of vaccine to Afghanistan.

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Afghanistan, Pakistan agree to abandon barter trade, establish banking relationships

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(Last Updated On: March 29, 2024)

Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed to abandon barter trade and to establish banking relationships during the two-day talks in Kabul, the Islamic Emirate’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid announced late Thursday.

The agreement came during talks between Afghan delegation led by Acting Minister of Industry and Commerce, Nooruddin Azizi, and the Pakistani delegation led by Federal Secretary of Commerce Muhammad Khurram Agha.

It was agreed that the Pakistani side will facilitate the transfer of goods from international containers to regional containers in the ports of Karachi in the next six months, Mujahid said in a statement.

An agreement was made regarding preferential trade, where both sides will give tariff preferences to those 10 items of export goods, 8 of which are agricultural and 2 items are industrial.

The sides agreed on a temporary free license for truck traffic for one year as a trial period, which will be implemented from May 2024.

They also reached an agreement regarding the transfer of goods through the airports of the two countries in the form of multi-modal air transit, which will start in the next two months.

As part of Pakistan’s recent measures regarding Afghanistan’s transit goods, it was agreed that within a week, the mandatory bank guarantee should be removed and insurance should be used as before, in consultation with the parties, the necessary measures will be taken to remove other obstacles.

The export of coal from Afghanistan to Pakistan was also discussed and the Pakistani side expressed its readiness to buy it at the international price, according to the statement.

Earlier Pakistan’s Charge d’Affaires for Afghanistan, Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani said in a video message on Wednesday that the recent trade talks in Kabul had been “successful” and that he hoped this would give fresh impetus to bilateral trade between the two countries.

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Pakistan’s commerce delegation wraps up ‘successful’ trip to Kabul

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(Last Updated On: March 28, 2024)

Pakistan’s Charge d’Affaires for Afghanistan, Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani said in a video message on Wednesday that the recent talks between Islamabad’s commerce delegation and Afghan officials had been “successful” and that he hoped this would give fresh impetus to bilateral trade between the two countries.

“I’m happy to report that this was a successful visit and both sides have agreed to work together for mutual benefit on a number of areas.

“They will facilitate transit, they will facilitate bilateral trade and they will take all possible measures that create an environment for continuous and productive trade and economic relations between the two countries,” he said.

The delegation, led by Commerce Ministry Secretary Khurram Agha, arrived in Kabul on Monday and had numerous talks on various issues with Islamic Emirate officials.

The visit came amid deteriorating bilateral relations following several suicide attacks in Pakistan in the last couple of months that Islamabad attributes to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants, a group they claim is based in Afghanistan.

Diplomatic tensions between the two countries over the last few months have led to economic losses, as key border crossings for trade and travel have closed intermittently, resulting in goods trucks being held up at border posts.

Afghanistan’s Minister for Industry and Commerce Nurudin Azizi meanwhile said the IEA had held fruitful negotiations in a cordial environment with the visiting delegation.

“We discussed in detail with the Pakistani side specific issues related to heavy transport vehicles that will be resolved,” he said.

“We will achieve positive results as our discussions remained productive.”

Azizi said Afghanistan expected to sign a formal agreement with Pakistan within six months, allowing Pakistani trucks to enter Afghanistan and travel to the Central Asian states and Afghan trucks to go all the way to the Pakistani port cities of Karachi and Gwadar.

Apart from discussing trade-related issues, the two sides also focused on movement of passengers, patients and businesspeople across their common border during these talks.

Azizi noted uninterrupted trade and business between Kabul and Islamabad would play a significant role in creating a peaceful environment between the two countries and facilitate their economic development.

He said the two sides also pledged to enhance their existing trade volume, adding that both countries could become ideal markets for each other if they did not allow business to be affected by any geopolitical tensions.

Azizi also said Afghanistan could export agricultural products to China and other countries via Pakistan’s ports and cities.

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Turkey’s 77 keen to start up cement plant in Jawzjan

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(Last Updated On: March 27, 2024)

Turkish construction company 77 officials have met with the acting minister of mines and petroleum, Shahabuddin Delawar, about investing in a cement factory in Yatim Taq area of Jawzjan province.

The minister, Shahabuddin Dalawar, has said the ministry will cooperate with the company but first needs a proposal, including details around how they plan to implement the project as well as social development plans.

Turkey’s 77 company has been working on electricity generation projects in Afghanistan for several years.

A number of industrialists say that if more investment is made in the cement production sector, not only will domestic demand be met, but the country’s cement will also be exported.

At the moment, cement is being produced by private companies in the provinces of Kandahar, Parwan and Herat.

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