Imports dominate Afghanistan’s total last year trade volume

KABUL (Pajhwok): Afghanistan’s trade volume reached almost $10 billion last year which included over $8 billion imports and $1.8 billion exports, an official said on Wednesday.

Akhundzada Abdul Salaam Jawad, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) told reporters in the past one year, Afghanistan's trade volume has reached almost $10 billion, of which more than $8 billion worth of imports and $1.8 billion worth of exports.

He said Afghanistan traded mostly take place with Kazakhstan, China, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Turkiye and Russia.

He added exported items mostly included cotton, coal, raisins, saffron, dried fig, Angi seed, onion, grapes, apple and pomegranates, while the imported items mostly included petroleum products, gas and cement.

He said 100 factories were opened last year, around 1,000 factories provided with licenses and over 650 companies were given tariffs, over 23,000 investment licenses were renewed and reformed while the level of self-reliance improved from 48 items to 133 items.

Ahmadullah Zahid, deputy minister of Commerce and Industries, said during the last year, ten bilateral and multilateral agreements have been concluded with the regional and other countries to facilitate trade and commerce

He said coordination with Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan and other countries in the area of economic, trade, transit and investment related matters had been improved.

According to the MoCI spokesperson the development of industrial parks and the construction of new industrial parks, the creation of special economic zones, the standardization of domestic products, the imposition of quality standards on imported goods, the strengthening of trade relations with neighboring countries, the region and the world were the ministry’s plans for the coming year.