TEHRAN- The value of Irans non-oil export to Afghanistan increased by 31 percent during the first ten months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2024-January 19, 2025), as compared to the same period of time in the past year, the spokesperson for the Trade Development Committee of the House of Industry, Mining, and Trade announced.Ruhollah Latifi said that Iran exported non-oil commodities valued at $1.972 billion to Afghanistan in the ten-month period.He said that Afghanistan was the fourth top export destination of Iranian products among Irans neighbors in the mentioned ten months.In a meeting with an Iranian trade delegation in Kabul in last August, Afghanistan's interim Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar Akhund said that his country is eager to attract Iranian investors in order to develop Afghan mining industry, generate solar electricity and expand railway connectivity.The Iranian delegation also proposed to launch a joint special industrial zone with Afghanistan.Noting that Afghanistan has turned into a good place for making investment, Mullah said that the relevant ministries and organizations there, will cooperate and work closely with the investors.The Iranian delegation, made up of economic and trade players, also held a separate meeting with Afghanistans acting minister of commerce Haji Nooruddin Azizi.
They called for the formation of a joint economic-mining zone between the two neighboring countries.At the same time, Iran's commercial attach in Afghanistan said that in order to improve Irans presence in Afghanistan's markets, the trade between the two countries should move towards newer models of cooperation.Afghanistan supplies more than 80 percent of its market needs through imports, and imports from Iran constitute 25 percent of this amount, Hossein Roustaei said in a meeting on opportunities and challenges of the Afghan market, held by Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA).Referring to Afghanistan's import priorities, including food, agriculture, fuel, basic goods such as flour, oil, eggs, day-old chickens, medicine, medical equipment, and construction equipment, he continued: Iran exported more than 724 million dollars of goods to Afghanistan in the first four months of the current [Iranian calendar year] (March 20-July 21, 2024) which has increased by 28 percent compared to the same period last year.The establishment of national security and the central government in Afghanistan over the past two years have improved the conditions of trade with this country, he added.Afghanistan has prioritized the exploitation of the countrys mines.
Therefore, Iran's traditional economic relation with Afghanistan should enter into newer models of cooperation, he stressed.According to Roustaei, investment and operation of mines, technical and engineering services, mechanization of agriculture and smart agriculture, construction of transportation infrastructure, and renewable energies are among the new fields that should be considered for cooperation between the two countries.Increasing non-oil exports to the neighboring countries is one of the major plans that the Iranian government has been pursuing in recent years.Iran shares land or water borders with 15 countries namely UAE, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Saudi Arabia.MA