Muhammad Murad
A high-ranking Iranian economic delegation, including lawmakers and private investors, led by Industry, Mining, and Trade Minister Seyed Mohammad Atabak, visited Afghanistan for three days from September 15 to 17 to hold high-level talks with the Taliban regime. The objective of these discussions was to enhance investment and trade between the two countries.
A spokesman for the Taliban Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Abdul Salam Jawad Akhundzada, said that the Iranian delegation’s visit “aims to identify obstacles hindering bilateral trade and to improve cooperation in transport and joint investment.”
During the visit, the Iranian delegation also met with officials from the prime minister’s economic office, as well as representatives from the ministries of mines and petroleum, and public works, along with members of the Afghan private sector. In addition, the delegation visited Afghanistan’s western province of Herat in order to inspect mines, the railway, and the Islam Qala border crossing.
Besides exploring new investment opportunities, the visit sought to expand Afghanistan-Iran bilateral trade with the goal of increasing it to $10 billion from the current $3.5 billion. It is yet to be determined whether the targeted increase in trade would benefit Afghanistan, mainly the common Afghan, or not; Iran already holds a trade surplus in the bilateral relationship.
Iran’s Atabak, nevertheless, seemed positive about his country’s commitment to cooperate with Afghanistan. He emphasized Iran’s intention to strengthen trade relations with all of Iran’s neighboring countries, particularly Afghanistan. He highlighted the historic ties between the two nations and reaffirmed Iran’s commitment to enhancing commercial and economic cooperation with Afghanistan. “We intend to pursue the plans we have laid out during our meetings with Afghan government officials to elevate the level of exchanges and strengthen bilateral cooperation, and to initiate new programs as well,” Atabak said.
According to the Tehran Times, the bilateral discussions also covered joint work in the mining sector, banking ties, expansion of cargo movement via the Khaf-Herat railway, and the greater use of Iran’s Chabahar port, which is currently being developed by India as part of a 10-year agreement. During an economic and trade meeting between delegations from both sides, Iran’s delegation proposed to adjust shipping capacities of the Chabahar port to accommodate more vessels with 50-container capacities to smoothly streamline the port operations.
No comments:
Post a Comment