Kazakhstan eyes $3b trade volume with Afghanistan

KABUL (Pajhwok): Kazakhstan wants to increase the trade volume with Afghanistan to reach three billion dollars, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce said on Friday.

Acting Minister of Industry and Commerce Nooruddin Azizi met Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev during his visit to that country, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce said in a statement.

Azizi traveled to Kazakhstan to participate in the Astana Forum.

The ministry said that during the meeting, the President of Kazakhstan emphasized increasing trade volume between Afghanistan and Kazakhstan to three billion dollars and said: “After the Islamic Emirate regained power, we were the first country to open and maintain our relations.”

He added it was one of his country’s plans to establish a UN mission in Kazakhstan to reach out to the situation of Central Asian countries, especially Afghanistan.

For his part Nooruddin Azizi thanked Kazakhstan for its support to remove the Islamic Emirate from the list of terrorist organizations and for the country’s diplomatic support for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan at the international level.

Azizi welcomed Kazakhstan’s $500 million investment in the Torghondi railway, humanitarian aid, and the country’s policies towards Afghanistan, and called this investment important for employment in Afghanistan.

The two sides agreed on the visit of the Kazakh Foreign Minister to Afghanistan in the near future to improve political relations and expressed satisfaction with the activities carried out between the two countries.

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