Tehran-Kabul Economic Ties Have Improved: ACCI

Afghanistan’s Chamber of Commerce and Investment officials say trade and economic relations between Afghanistan and Iran have increased.
According to ACCI officials, annual trade between Kabul and Tehran exceeds $1 billion, Ariana News reported.
Simultaneously, the process of trade and joint investment is also expanding between the two counties on a daily basis, the officials said.
ACCI has also emphasized that Iran is the biggest trading partner of Afghanistan in the current situation.
“I think Iran is Afghanistan’s first-rate partner because the exchange of goods [between Kabul and Tehran] does not have any banking problems and our imports from Iran are more,” said Khanjan Alkozi, a member of ACCI.
Meanwhile, officials of Afghanistan’s Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MoIC) say they are trying to develop economic relations with all neighboring countries.
According to MoIC, economic relations with Iran are developing day by day and joint investments may be developed in the near future.
“We have good trade relations with all the neighboring countries and we have more relations with Iran, Iran has invested in various sectors in the country and has the will to invest, especially in the agriculture sector,” said Akhundzada Abdul Salam Jawad, a spokesman for MoIC.
Economic experts, meanwhile, believe that if economic and trade relations with all neighboring countries are developed, deep and positive economic changes will occur in the region.

Joint Chamber of Commerce

Officials of the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment recently said a joint chamber of commerce with Iran will be formed in the new solar year that started on March 21.
The Afghanistan-Iran Chamber of Commerce is aiming to boost commerce between the two neighboring countries, ACCI said.
"The executive board of the ACCI decided to establish a joint chamber of commerce. A commission has been formed and it is working on the draft. It is almost completed. We proposed a temporary board," said Alokozai.
"With the launch of this chamber, trade and economic activities will increase. Traders from your country [Afghanistan] and our traders will engage in face to face cooperation and it will increase the level of cooperation," said Taqwa Minsion, university instructor in Iran.
Iran’s Ministry of Economy said that the formation of the joint chamber will boost economic development.
"The formation of a joint chamber of Afghanistan and Iran will benefit the growth of the country’s economy, and efforts will be made to improve the economic relations of Afghanistan with neighboring countries," said Abdul Latif Nazari, deputy economy minister.
"If the chambers are managed to both attract foreign investment and produce products and export them, the increase of exports and attraction of investments will solve two major issues, which are poverty and unemployment," said Abdul Naseer Rishtia, an economist.
Afghanistan currently has joint chambers of commerce with Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.