‘Afghanistan, Uzbekistan trade volume to reach $2b in 3 years’

KABUL (Pajhwok): Uzbekistani ambassador to Kabul on Wednesday told a commercial conference here that trade volume between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan would reach $2 billion in the next three years.

Khwaja Shadmanov, Uzbekistani envoy, made the revelation at a two-day conference titled ‘Afghan-Uzbek Commercial Connectivity’ in Kabul.

The conference was jointly organized by Uzbekistan Commercial Development Union and Afghanistan Constructional Companies Union and attended by representatives of the two countries and private sector.

Shadmanov said the trade volume between the two countries had reached $800 million in 2020 and efforts were on to increase the amount to $2 billion in the next three years.

He called guaranteed electricity export from Uzbekistan to Afghanistan a good sign of friendly relations between the two neighbors and said that his country exported food items, oil, metals, machines, equipment, textile products, wheat, flour and others to Afghanistan.

He hoped more cooperation in various areas between the two countries would be started after today’s conference.

According to Shadmanov, 920 shared Afghanistan-Uzbekistan companies had been registered in his country and were active in commerce.

FayazuddinGheyasi, policy director in the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, said that Afghanistan commercial exchanges with Uzbekistan included 95 percent of imports and exports of goods from Afghanistan to the neighboring country.

Etibar Khan Zadran, a senior advisor to the Presidential Palace, addressing the conference, said that the Afghan government was providing facilities for investments in the country and Afghanistan had the potential to become a connectivity point in regional countries.

KarimAzimi, head of Chamber of Industries and Mines of Kabul, complained about bureaucracy and corruption and said, “If we want to encourage foreign investors about the country’s mines, it is impossible, if the government supports domestic investor, foreign investors would also get encouraged.”

However, FayazuddinGheyasi said that more facilities were currently made available for traders and license issuance and other related works could be done in a day.

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