Issues related to expansion of economic cooperation between Tajikistan and Afghanistan were discussed at a roundtable entitled “Commercial Opportunities of Tajikistan and Afghanistan” that took place in Dushanbe on August 16.
The meeting brought together representatives of relevant bodies of Tajikistan, Afghan Embassy in Dushanbe, international organizations active in Tajikistan, as well as Tajik and Afghan entrepreneurs to discuss opportunities to further expand trade and economic cooperation between the two countries.
Speaking at the meeting, Mojibullah Malikzada, Commercial Attache, Afghan Embassy in Dushanbe, noted, “Afghanistan and Tajikistan have unlimited opportunities for cooperation”.
He pointed to the necessity of using those potentials noting that there were all necessary prerequisites for development of good neighborly relations between the two countries, “namely common border, common history and cultural values, traditions”.
Malikzada also informed the meeting participants about Afghanistan’s export potentials.
According to the Agency for Statistics under the President of Tajikistan, a two-way trade between Tajikistan and Afghanistan over the first six months of this year has fallen by 43.5% YoY.
In H1 trade between Tajikistan and Afghanistan has reportedly amounted to little more than $31 million.
Tajik experts attribute the fall in trade between the two countries to increasing instability in northern Afghanistan. (Asia-Plus/Business World Magazine)