KABUL (SW) – After the recent meetings of the Uzbek delegation with the officials of the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation, officials in this ministry say that the Uzbek delegation has agreed to expand Uzbekistan’s trade with Pakistan and India through Afghanistan.
Imamuddin Ahmadi, the spokesman of the Ministry of Transportation and Civil Aviation, says that the Uzbek delegation has promised that more trucks from Afghanistan will be allowed to travel through Uzbekistan to other Central Asian countries. He added: “The day before, the Uzbek delegation visited the transit, loading, Salang and Hairatan routes. The main goal of Uzbekistan is that it wants to expand its transit relations with India and Pakistan through Afghanistan. Afghanistan also promised to provide all facilities for the transit of this country.”
Ahmadi added that last year, Uzbekistan exported 700 thousand tons of goods to Pakistan and India through Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, officials in the Ministry of Industry and Trade say that with the agreement on the expansion of transit between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, the problem of high transit costs and the lack of visas for Afghan businessmen to transit goods through Uzbekistan will also be solved.
Akhundzada Abdulsalam Javad, the spokesman of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, says that the expansion of transit between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan is beneficial for increasing the volume of Afghanistan’s trade with other countries. He adds: “Before, we had transit through Afghanistan to other countries, and the problem was that the transit fee was high. In this case it was agreed to come down. Viss should be given easily and on time to traders and allowed to access their markets.”
Shaker Yaqoubi, an expert on economic issues, says that if the facilitation of transit between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan is used properly, the expansion of transit relations will be beneficial for both countries. He adds: “Just as Uzbekistan is trying to reach the countries of India and Pakistan using Afghanistan’s transit route, Afghanistan should also try to reach the markets of China, Russia and European countries using this country.”
It should be noted that the Uzbek delegation came to Afghanistan on Saturday this week to discuss the expansion of trade and transit relations, which ended yesterday after meeting with various ministries and emphasizing the development of transportation, transit and bilateral cooperation between Kabul and Tashkent.
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