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Kabul working with UAE to digitize customs ports

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Afghanistan has sought the UAE’s help to digitize its logistics infrastructure in order to facilitate regional trade in its push to become a bridge between South and Central Asia and the Gulf.

According to Emirates News Agency (WAM), Afghan Ambassador to the UAE Javid Ahmad said in an interview Afghanistan has a “planned large-scale programme on digitalisation with the UAE, which would involve digitalisation of our trade and logistics infrastructure."

He said Afghanistan is in talks with a UAE firm to look into the schematics of the country’s dry ports and customs ports to see how they can mainstream the customs revenue collection, WAM reported.

"That's very important for us, because an estimated 46 percent of our government revenues come from customs but the current system allows some loopholes for leakages, waste and misallocations," Ahmad said.

"We believe that if we want Afghanistan to be the land bridge between South and Central Asia, regional connectivity is important, especially as part of our own plan for economic growth," he said.

Afghanistan wants to extend its connectivity beyond South and Central Asia towards Arabian Gulf, particularly the UAE, through Port Qasim in Karachi, Pakistan and Chabahar Port in south-eastern Iran, he explained.

"We need to get logistics revamped and we are engaged with the UAE firm to see whether they could come and study to completely reform and restructure it, which would also include technology transfer," Ahmad told WAM.

He said Afghanistan realises the future is digital and said government was also working with the UAE to create a unified communication infrastructure network, especially for key government institutions. “That includes important technological support, for example, on data integration systems. We are engaging with the UAE on this and it is a flagship project," he said.

Ahmad also revealed that efforts are underway to establish a joint UAE-Afghanistan Business Council.

He said other priority sectors included the bilateral economic agenda, agriculture and aviation sectors.

The aviation sector is important "especially because the UAE’s three-company consortium is already managing four of our international airports. So now we're looking to see how in the aviation sector UAE’s engagement could deepen to include, for example, building a passenger terminal, building a cargo terminal, as well as establishing a logistical and food processing zone," the envoy explained.

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Private sectors of Afghanistan, Kazakhstan sign contracts worth $100 million

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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.

 

 

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China resumes direct rail trade with Afghanistan

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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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IEA signs contract for construction of cement factory in Jawzjan Province

Turkish 77 Company will invest $163 million in the factory, which will have a daily output of 3,000 tons of cement once completed

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The Islamic Emirate on Tuesday signed a multi-million dollar contract with Turkish 77 Company for a new cement factory in the Yatim Taq area of Jawzjan Province in northern Afghanistan.

The contract was signed in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar Akhund.

Turkish 77 Company will invest $163 million in the factory, which will have a daily output of 3,000 tons of cement once completed.

Also in attendance on Tuesday were officials from the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum who stated that the contract, which allows the Turkish company to explore, extract, produce cement, and deliver social services, is valid for 30 years.

The establishment of this cement production plant will directly create around 1,200 jobs for local citizens.

In addition to the signing of this contract, the ministry also inked contracts worth $476 million with several domestic and foreign companies for cement projects in Jabal al-Saraj, Kandahar, and Herat.

The IEA has said this is in line with their aim of propelling the country towards self-sufficiency in the cement sector.

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