KABUL: Afghanistan imports $2.8 billion worth of goods from Iran every year, said Nasir Ahmad Noor, Afghan envoy to Iran.
“If oil exports are excluded, Afghanistan would be Iran’s biggest export destination,” Nasir told the Iranian news agency IRNA.
“A third of Afghanistan’s domestic demand for goods from Iran enters the country through the Dogharoun border terminal located in the border city of Taybad in Khorasan Razavi Province. The terminal is a port also for 50% of the Iranian province’s annual exports,” he said.
Afghanistan’s Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) said Tuesday that Pakistan’s enforcement of new border restrictions have not had significant implications for the national economy and prices of products in the local markets.
Pakistan’s move to destabilize normal trade and commercial activities with Afghanistan and the central Asian countries, will only harm its own economy, the ACCI said in a statement on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Commerce and Industries (MoCI) has said that Afghanistan maintains the right to seek the settlement of its trade and commercial problems in line with the honorable reputation the country economically has gained among the international organizations.
Optimism of the stability of the Afghan economy comes amid fresh border restrictions by Pakistan on its borders with Afghanistan.
On Thursday, Pakistan announced extra security measures and border restrictions on the border between the two countries following Saturday’s deadly blast at a Sufi shrine in Pakistan’s Sindh province.
Islamabad claimed that the move was imperative to control the infiltration of terrorists infiltrating into Pakistani from Afghanistan. Pakistan’s sudden move of introducing border restrictions has led to uncertainties within the business communities in the two countries.
The ACCI says that Pakistan’s new border restrictions will hinder Islamabad’s access to Afghan and central Asian markets. The unwarranted move will also inflict devastative repercussions on the economic development and commercial relations of Pakistan with other states.
The volume of the trade balance between Afghanistan and Pakistan is estimated to be $1.5 billion. Of that, the share of Afghanistan’s exports to Pakistan is estimated at 15 percent while 85 percent of the share is made up of Pakistan’s exports to Afghanistan.
The trade volume between Pakistan and central Asian countries is around $4 billion, the ACCI said.
The ACCI said that Pakistan also collects large amounts of money through smuggling from the Afghan and central Asian routes.
