Business
Iran’s non-oil exports to Afghanistan up 4%
The value of Iran’s non-oil exports to Afghanistan increased by four percent during the first seven months of the current Solar year, as compared to the same period of time in the past year, the Tehran Times reported.
According to Ruhollah Latifi, the spokesman of the International Relations and Trade Development Committee of Iran’s House of Industry, Mining and Trade, Iran exported non-oil commodities worth $975 million to Afghanistan in the seven-month period of this year.
Latifi said Iran has a 35 percent share in Afghanistan’s import market, which is a considerable figure in bilateral trade ties.
Mohammad-Mehdi Javanmard-Ghassab, the economic adviser of the Iranian president’s special envoy on Afghanistan affairs, stated that the country is seeking to export technology, technical know-how as well as technical and engineering services to Afghanistan.
Increasing the production of Iranian products in Afghanistan is also on the agenda, he emphasized.
According to Mohammad Ghanadzadeh, the deputy head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO), the trade between Iran and Afghanistan has increased by 20 percent in the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 21).
Ghanadzadeh said Iran is ready to cooperate with Afghanistan in the country’s development and reconstruction projects, Tehran Times reported.
The Iranian and Afghan governments are taking some prominent measures to boost trade between the two countries.
In early March, Iran’s trade center and permanent exhibition of Iranian products was inaugurated in Kabul with the aim of developing trade relations between the two countries.
Then in late July, a joint exhibition of products made in Iran and Afghanistan was held in Herat.
More recently the two countries signed five memorandums of understanding (MOUs) on cooperation in different economic sectors.
The MOUs were signed in a ceremony on November 9 in the presence of Iranian Agriculture Minister Mohammad-Ali Nikbakht, President Raisi’s special envoy for Afghanistan Hassan Kazemi Qomi, and Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.
The MOUs include the cooperation document of the Iran-Afghanistan Joint Economic Committee meeting, the document of the two sides’ Joint International Road Transport Cooperation Committee meeting, the MOU between Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) and the Afghan side, the MOU between Iran’s Esfahan Steel Company and the Afghan side, and the MOU between Iran’s Secretariat of Free Trade and Special Economic Zones and the Afghan sides, Tehran Times reported.
The Ministry of Mines and Petroleum says it has signed 36 large and small mining contracts, with a total value of $1.3 billion over the past year.
Officials from the ministry stated that these contracts include 10 large mines, 25 small mines, as well as projects related to cement, salt, marble, and a major gas extraction contract with Uzbekistan, all signed with both domestic and foreign companies.
Meanwhile, economic experts have emphasized the importance of increasing investments in the mining sector for the country’s economic growth. They have stressed that priority in mining contracts should be given to domestic companies.
“It is better to prioritize domestic investors over foreign ones,” said Kamaluddin Kakar, an economic expert.
In the meantime, members of the private sector also stated that if both foreign companies and Afghan investors can partner in the mining sector, this will not only foster investment development in the country but also bring positive changes in capacity building within the mining extraction sector.
The press office of the Herat governor has announced the export of Afghanistan’s first shipment via the Khaf-Herat railway to Europe.
According to a statement from the office, the shipment includes 200 tons of dried fruits worth $1.2 million, which were exported to Turkey and Europe through the Khaf-Herat railway in the presence of Islam Jar, the governor of this province, and the Iranian Consul General.
The exported dried fruits in this shipment include pistachios, raisins, almonds, and pine nuts.
The statement added that over the past three months, more than 35,000 tons of goods have been transferred via the Khaf-Herat railway.
Business
Russia’s LPG exports to Afghanistan boom as Europe shuns it
The exports to Afghanistan, the main consumer of Russia’s LPG in the region, rose by 52% for the period to 71,000 tons.
Russia’s exports of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to Afghanistan and ex-Soviet states in Central Asia have jumped following introduction of European Union sanctions against Moscow at the end of 2024, industry sources said on Wednesday, Reuters reported.
The European Union’s sanctions against Russia’s LPG over the war in Ukraine took effect on December 20. The restrictions were proposed last year by Poland, one of Russia’s largest LPG importers.
LPG, or propane and butane, is mainly used as fuel for cars, heating and to produce other petrochemicals.
According to the industry sources, railway supplies of LPG from Russia’s plants, including the Kazrosgas joint venture with Kazakhstan, jumped to the region by 80% year on year in January – February to 140,000 metric tons, read the report.
The exports to Afghanistan, the main consumer of Russia’s LPG in the region, rose by 52% for the period to 71,000 tons.
Traders expect great scope for more supplies to Afghanistan, where annual demand for LPG is seen at around 700,000 tons per year.
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