KABUL (SW) – Kabul on Monday hosted a one-day meeting aimed at identifying the opportunities and challenges facing the private sector and examining the best ways to access global markets.
Officials of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry say that this meeting was aimed to identify the problems facing the private sector and provide solutions for them.
Nooruddin Azizi, Acting Minister of Commerce and Industry, asked the international community to invest in Afghanistan’s infrastructure instead of humanitarian aid. He adds: “Changing the policies of the international community and aid agencies from humanitarian aid to infrastructure and development aid, for the growth of the private sector such as electricity, cold storage, industrial park, special economic zones, export centers, facilities in ports, technology, machinery and modern irrigation are much more important.”
Yonus Momand, deputy of the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment, urged the United Nations to deal with the problems of Afghan businessmen outside of Afghanistan. “Our request to the United Nations is to take care of our banking problems outside of Afghanistan because there is a market for Afghanistan’s domestic products abroad when the businessmen have visas,” he stated.
Indrika Ratwatte, the deputy for humanitarian affairs of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) emphasized on supporting the private sector in Afghanistan and added that supporting the private sector in Afghanistan is a collective responsibility.
“The United Nations will support the private sector to access international and regional markets. Our goal is to bring the private sector of Afghanistan to the heights of success and it is a collective responsibility to support the private sector,” he said.
The ideas stemming from this meeting have been shared with the de-facto government and international institutions. According to the statistics provided by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Afghanistan produces 500 types of goods domestically and has reached self-sufficiency in the production of 133 items.
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