Afghanistan attracts $1.1 billion in private investment

WASHINGTON (Pajhwok): The Ashraf Ghani administration has taken a series of steps to attract international business community to Afghanistan, the Afghan Ambassador to the United States has said.

Afghanistan has so far attracted a whooping $1.1 billion in private investment, Hamdullah Mohib told the 12^th annual business matchmaking conference organised by the Afghan-American Chambers of Commerce.

“$700 million of the investment is in the energy sector alone,” Mohib said at the conference, which was attended by a large number of companies from Afghanistan and the US. Top executives interacted on exploring the possibility of joint ventures.

Afghanistan, which is strategically located between South and Central Asia, offers lucrative business opportunities and people are already jumping to use them. “If you don’t, you will be left behind,” he said, inviting American businesses to invest in Afghanistan.

Further steps were being taken to facilitate and protect private investment in Afghanistan.Since Afghanistan’s accession to the World has passed nearly 30 new laws and regulationsto ensure proper legal frameworks were in place to protect foreign investment.

"2017 is strategically and economically critical in the history of Afghanistan. While governance and security issues are being sorted out, there are emerging ground-floor opportunities for doing business in Afghanistan," remarked Suleman Lutfi, chairman of the board of the Afghan-American Chambers of Commerce.

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