अफगान विदेश मंत्री के बाद उद्योग मंत्री भी भारत आए: 5 दिन यहीं रहेंगे; पाकिस्तान से व्यापार रुकने के बाद दौरा

Afghanistan’s Industry and Commerce Minister Alhaj Nooruddin Azizi arrived on a five-day visit to India on Wednesday. His visit is taking place after the visit of Taliban government’s Foreign Minister Aamir Khan Muttaki to India last month.

On reaching India, Anand Prakash, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, welcomed him. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that the purpose of this visit is to increase trade and investment between the two countries.

During Muttaki’s visit in October, India and Afghanistan had agreed to form a bilateral trade committee to explore investment opportunities in minerals, energy and infrastructure sectors.

Muttaki came to visit India on 10 October. This was the first visit of a Taliban minister to India after taking over power in Afghanistan in 2021.

Trade halted in Afghanistan-Pakistan

This visit of Azizi is taking place after the trade with Pakistan and Afghanistan came to a standstill. Pakistan has closed its major land borders with Afghanistan. Afghan traders have suffered huge losses due to this. The biggest impact has been on the export of fruits.

Coal, soapstone, dry fruits and fresh fruits are exported from Afghanistan to Pakistan. Whereas Afghanistan imports cement, medicines, flour, steel, clothes and vegetables from Pakistan.

After the closure of the border, the Taliban government had advised its traders not to depend on Pakistan and increase trade with other countries.

Azizi has appealed to businessmen to turn to Central Asian countries. In such a situation, Aziji’s visit to India is being considered very important.

Since the border was closed, trucks of traders are stranded on the border areas.

Afghanistan will stop business with Pakistan in 3 months

According to Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Deputy Prime Minister of the Taliban government, there is a loss of about 200 million US dollars (about Rs 1,700 crore) every month due to the halt in trade with Pakistan.

Baradar termed the border closure as ‘economic war’. He also criticized the poor quality of medicines coming from Pakistan. Also, 3 months time has been given to complete the transaction.

Five major crossings between the two countries, including Torkham and Spin Boldak, have been closed for more than a month.