Business
World Bank agrees to restart Afghanistan CASA-1000 power project
The World Bank has announced that it has agreed to restart the Central Asia-South Asia Electricity Transmission and Trade Project (CASA-1000) in Afghanistan amid concerns among the other participating countries -Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan - that they risk $1billion of stranded assets.
However, the WB said the resumption would only take place within a ring-fenced structure that would ensure all construction payments and future revenue are managed outside of Afghanistan and do not involve the Islamic Emirate government.
The structure would also mean a strengthened commitment to the use of international consultants to supervise progress and third-party monitoring to verify progress and certify contractor invoices, it said.
The $1.2bn CASA-1000 regional power project is designed to interconnect the power grids of the four participating countries, allowing for hydro power-generated electricity to be exported from the two Central Asian states to Afghanistan and to Pakistan via Afghanistan.
The project was approved by the World Bank board in March 2014 with financing from the International Development Association (IDA), but in Afghanistan it was paused, with all implementation activities stopped, in the wake of the return to power of the Islamic Emirate.
Before the project was paused, about 18% of the towers for the Afghanistan portion of the CASA transmission line had been erected and about 95% of the materials and equipment needed to complete the project in the country had been supplied, according to the World Bank.
Despite the Afghanistan pause, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Pakistan continued with the implementation of CASA-1000 and construction activities are nearly complete in all three countries, it added.
The ring-fenced resumption, said the World Bank, would be in two phases: construction, expected to take three years, and operations after that.
Its statement concluded: “During the project construction phase, the World Bank will make payments directly to the offshore accounts of international contractors and consultants, based on verification of invoices by the independent monitoring agency.
“For the operations phase, Offshore Account Bank (Abu Dhabi) arrangements are in place to ensure that payments and revenue are ring-fenced offshore as per commercial contractual agreements with requirements for no objection for use for specified purposes, including purchase of electricity from Tajikistan and Kyrgyz Republic under the CASA-1000 and other existing power purchase agreements.”
The IEA has repeatedly called for the resumption of stalled development projects in the country by international organizations and countries.
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) says that, any project that is implemented in Afghanistan should be done once the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has been informed.
The IEA also said Afghanistan’s conditions should be taken into consideration.
“We are ready to cooperate. There is security in Afghanistan and there are facilities to implement the project and the system cooperates in the necessary sectors and will not be an obstacle,” said Zabiullah Mujahid, IEA’s spokesman.
Business
Mullah Baradar inaugurates a blanket factory in Kabul
About 930 million Afghanis have been invested in the factory and it currently has the capacity to produce 1000 blankets per day.
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the economic deputy prime minister, on Sunday inaugurated a blanket factory in Pul-e-Charkhi industrial area in Kabul city.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Baradar said that with the provision of overall security in the country and the reduction of corruption, a favorable environment for medium and small investments has been created.
He added that the Islamic Emirate continues to support domestic industries by implementing effective import substitution policies, which plays an important role in strengthening the country's national economy.
Baradar stated that in order to support domestic industries, heavy-duty machines worth 100 million afghanis ($1.4 million) were purchased for the newly established blanket factory based on the Islamic Murabaha Islamic financing structure.
Murabaha is a sales contract where the buyer and seller agree on the markup or "cost-plus" price for the item being sold.
Baradar also mentioned that the Islamic Emirate seeks to reduce dependence on foreign imports by increasing the level of investment.
He called businessmen and investors to invest inside Afghanistan for the economic growth of the country.
According to Baradar’s office, the newly established blanket factory uses domestically sourced raw materials including wool and cotton, which will help increase job opportunities in addition to strengthening the livestock and agriculture sector.
About 930 million afghanis has been invested in the factory and it currently has the capacity to produce 1,000 blankets per day.
The factory has employed about 900 people.
Business
Trade volume between Kabul-Tehran has reached over $1.8 billion: MoIC
Afghanistan News: Iranian officials also stated that since the beginning of this year, the export of non-oil goods to Afghanistan has increased to $1.3 billion
Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MoIC) says the trade volume between Afghanistan and Iran has reached more than $1.8 billion over the past seven months of 1403 [solar year].
The ministry's spokesman Abdulsalam Jawad Akhundzada said these trades include oil and non-oil goods.
According to Jawad Akhundzada, trade and transit with Iran is expanding.
“Afghanistan's trade with Iran during the seven months of 1403 was worth $1 billion 827 million dollars, of which 30 million dollars were exports and $1 billion 797 million dollars were imports,” said Akhundzada.
“Most of the major export goods are mineral stones, raisins, all kinds of soft drinks and sesame seeds, and the main import items are diesel fuel, petrol, raw materials for manufacturing, liquid gas and cement,” he added.
Meanwhile, Iranian officials also stated that since the beginning of this year, the export of non-oil goods to Afghanistan has increased to 1.3 billion dollars.
Tehran Times newspaper quoted the Iranian customs officials and reported that Afghanistan was Iran's fifth largest importer of non-oil products in the last seven months.
Business
Afghanistan-India trade volume totals $650 million so far this year
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.
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