KABUL (TOLOnews): Acting Minister of Industry and Commerce Nooruddin Azizi, in an interview with TOLOnews, said that the amount of Afghan exports to Pakistan has increased.
In an exclusive interview with TOLOnews, Azizi said that Afghanistan’s exports to Pakistan in the previous year alone reached $1.2 billion in value. Fresh fruit and minerals are Afghanistan’s two most significant exports to Pakistan, according to this Islamic Emirate cabinet official.
“The amount of export business for many years never exceeded $400 million. Thankfully, we were able to boost our exports to $1.2 billion. According to the data we collected from our businesspeople, they were very satisfied this year, more than they had been the year before,” Azizi said.
The acting Minister of Industry and Commerce further stated that during his trips to Russia, Pakistan and Iran, he tried to develop trade and commerce.
“The general discussions that we had on the sidelines with friends and countries were for the purpose of creating a connecting point between the north and the south that we should bring Afghanistan to the long-standing dream we have,” he said.
In the meantime, several businesspeople asked the Islamic Emirate, particularly the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, to solve their problems in various commercial areas.
“Work should be done with the Ministry of Finance on some tax issues so that small and medium-sized businessmen and entrepreneurs can make good moves in the growth of their daily activities,” said Sieyar Qureshi, an economist.
The acting Minister of Industry and Commerce drew attention to the issue of Iran’s water rights and said that if there is enough water in the Helmand River, Afghanistan will allocate Iran its share of water. He also remarked that the media has magnified the issue of Iran’s water rights.
“During my trip to Iran, they even told us that they would pay a price for water from us,” Azizi said.
Pakistan is one of Afghanistan’s main economic partners, and the majority of Afghan products are typically sold in Pakistani marketplaces. Pakistan also exports its products and transit items to other nations via Afghanistan.