Kazakhstan will open a trade representation in Afghanistan, in a bid to strengthen trade relations between the nations, Kazakhstan prime minister’s official website reported on April 16.
The opening of Kazakhstan’s trade representation in Afghanistan was reportedly announced during a business forum of Kazakhstan and Afghanistan that took place in Kabul at the end of last week on the margins of a visit of the Deputy Prime Minister also Minister of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan, Serik Zhumangarin to Afghanistan.
Senior representatives of 18 Kazakh enterprises, engaged in exporting food products (wheat flour, pasta, confectionery, soft drinks and dairy products), participated in the forum. The entrepreneurs reportedly reached an agreement on supplying US$4 million worth of Kazakh wheat flour to Afghanistan.
It was noted during the meeting that the head office of Kazakhstan’s trade representation in Afghanistan will be located in Herat.
The key tasks of the trade representation will be to promote expansion of trade and economic cooperation between Kazakhstan and Afghanistan, expansion of economic telecommunication, transportation and logistics cooperation between the regions of the two countries, use of transit and cross-border potential of Afghanistan for trade with the region’s countries, attraction of investment in Kazakhstan’s economy.
Kazakhstan’s trade representation in Afghanistan is intended to be a platform for organization of B2B meetings between the business circles of the two countries in Kazakhstan and Afghanistan. For this, a consulting center will be set up at the trade representation to make available information about Kazakhstan’s exported products, its trade legislation, holding marketing surveys and analyses, etc.
Meanwhile, Afghan media reports, citing Afghan First Deputy Prime Minister, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, say Serik Zhumangarin pledged to reopen the Embassy and Consulate of the current Afghan
TOLOnews reports that a delegation of Kazakhstan, led by the Deputy Prime Minister also Minister of Trade and Integration Serik Zhumangarin visited Kabul on April 15 and had meetings with a number of senior officials of the Islamic Emirate, including Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.
In order to improve relations, the Islamic Emirate reportedly asked the high-ranking Kazakh official to receive the diplomats of the current Afghan Government.
Some Afghan analysts, however, say accepting Islamic Emirate’s diplomats without recognizing the current Afghan Government is a one-way relationship and has one-sided benefits.
Although the Islamic Emirate has diplomatic missions in Tehran, Istanbul, Islamabad, Dubai, Moscow, Beijing, and a number of Arab and African nations, no nation has recognized the Islamic Emirate.
