Kabul, Astana agree to set up joint road, rail transport firms

KABUL (Pajhwok): Acting Afghan Industry and Commerce Minister Nooruddin Azizi and Kazakhstan Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister have agreed to establish joint road and rail transport companies and facilitate visa issuance process for Afghan traders.

In a statement, MoIC said Azizi met and discussed with Murat Nurteleo Deputy Prime Minister and Kazakhstan Foreign Minister and his delegation.

At this meeting, both sides emphasized the expansion of trade and economic relations between the two countries, and it was agreed the exchange of officials would continue in order to increase the level of bilateral trade to three billion US dollars, it added.

According to MoIC, it was suggested that the focus of cooperation should not be limited to export of agricultural products, but special attention should be paid to import and export of technology and industrial products.

It said the parties agreed to establish road and rail transportation companies with joint investment and also emphasized facilitating visa issuance process for Afghan traders.

Additionally, they talked about holding an exhibition of Afghan domestic products in Kazakhstan on August this year, and Kazakh side while announcing its readiness to cooperate in holding this exhibition, promised to announce the exact date as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, MoIC provided a list of outstanding accounts of Kazakh companies, and Norteleo promised to investigate the matter.

During the meeting, Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister while announcing his political, economic and cultural support for Afghanistan, expressed Kazakhstan readiness to provide vocational and technical education for about 100 Afghan students and spend humanitarian aid worth one million US dollars in Afghanistan.

MoIC explained a Kazakh delegation emphasized that petroleum companies from Afghanistan should be introduced to Kazakhstan so it could provide petroleum products to Afghanistan at a discount, so that people faced no shortage of these products during the cold weather.

hz/ma