Kabul, Tehran to sign trade, Transportation pact

KABUL (Tolo news): Islamic Emirate officials said Afghanistan and Iran will soon sign a commerce and transit agreement.

The Ministry of Industry and Commerce said on its website that the head of the ministry discussed this agreement in a meeting with the Minister of Industry of Iran.

“They should reduce the costs so that we can make goods available to consumers at lower and better price and have better business. Customs services should be provided at the two nations’ customs offices twenty-four hours a day,” said Ahmad Saeed Siddiqi, deputy of the Herat Chamber of Commerce and Investment.

The Chamber of Commerce and Investment asked the officials of Islamic Emirate and Iran to reduce customs fees.

Some Iranian businessmen also underlined the expansion of commerce and the cooperation of the two nations in the creation of facilities for businessmen.

“Given the good authority that the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of the two countries have, the meetings held by the ministers of the two countries can make things easier, and the opening of Iran’s commercial center in Kabul is a step toward this,” said Samana Abdullahi, the director of the Iran-Afghanistan Trade Center.

“The trade center also has a priority in the area of transferring technical science and bringing the infrastructure needed by Afghanistan in various industries, such as agriculture, the construction industry, food, and medical equipment,” said Hossein Azari, CEO of the Iran-Afghanistan Trade Center.

According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the yearly worth of exports and imports between Afghanistan and Iran is two billion dollars, and attempts are being made to raise this figure to ten billion.