The 14th exclusive exhibition of Iranian products will be held in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul by mid-February, said the head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO).
The exhibition, postponed about one year due to the coronavirus pandemic restrictions, is a great opportunity to enter the Afghan market and reconnect with old customers and find new markets, Hamid Zadboum noted.
The director general of TPO’s Asia-Pacific Office said last week that a preferential trade agreement with Afghanistan will be signed in the near future.
Speaking in the fourth meeting of Khorasan Razavi-Herat Joint Trade Committee in Mashhad, Reza Seyyed-Aqazadeh said, “Necessary coordination has been made with the Ministry of Commerce of Afghanistan and primary talks will be held on January 13 via a videoconference.”
He pointed to previous tariff agreements between the two countries and said, “In 2015, the tariffs for the imports of five commodity items from Afghanistan including the imports of sesame were reduced – the tariffs on sesame imports were reduced from 10 percent to five percent.”
According to the official, balancing international trade, especially with Afghanistan is one of the major strategies of Iran in foreign trade, and TPO’s goal is to establish a balanced trade between the two countries.
Special strategies were adopted by the TPO for balancing trade with Afghanistan, he said, adding that the issues and demands of Afghan traders will also be reviewed in a special working group in the organization.
Having shared historical, cultural, political, and economic backgrounds, Iran and Afghanistan have been allies for many years and the strategic cooperation between the two countries was broadened especially over the past two decades.