The Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MoIC) said that trade has increased with Uzbekistan in 2023. The spokesman of MoIC said that Afghanistan had $266 million worth of trade with Uzbekistan in 2023, while it was $44 million in 2022. Afghanistan’s exports to Uzbekistan have been worth $27 million in the past year.
“We have bilateral trade with Uzbekistan, in 2023, we had $27 million worth of exports and $239 million worth of imports from Uzbekistan, and most of our exported items to Uzbekistan are dried fruit, fruit juice, apricots, sesame, carpets, and most of our imported items are electricity, flour, beans, chemical fertilizers, oil and gas,” said Akhundzada Abdul Salam Jawad the spokesman of MoIC.
On the other hand, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that for the strengthening of Afghanistan’s relations with the regional countries, a plan is underway to connect with China through Uzbekistan.
“We want to connect with Russia and also Europe and this matter should be taken care of and besides, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry is working on a plan on how to connect with China through this way,” said Mirwais Hotak, head of the ACCI.
At the same time, a number of businessmen want the Islamic Emirate to address their banking problems and issuance of business visas.
“A coordination committee should be formed on the leadership of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry with the sectorial chambers to address the problems on time and provide more facilities for the exports of the country,” said Omid Haidari, a businessman.
“Afghan businessmen can’t travel to other countries to have business trips, we face visa issues and the Islamic Emirate must solve it,” said Zalmai Azimi, another businessman.
Before this, the Minister of Industry and Commerce (MoIC), Nooruddin Azizi, said that efforts to increase trade to $3 billion per year continue.—Tolonews
