Iran accounts for nearly half of Afghanistan's market demand, according to Iran’s commercial attaché to the neighboring country, Mohammad Mehdi Javanmard-Qassab.
About $3-4 billion of Afghanistan’s total annual imports worth $6-7 billion are from Iran, he added.
“The depreciation of Iranian currency has paved the way for an increase in exports … Afghanistan has huge capacity and demand in the field of technical and engineering services. This provides us with ample opportunity for the export of these services and the transfer of our technical knowhow in different fields to Afghan businesses,” Javanmard-Qassab was quoted as saying by Fars News Agency.
To achieve this objective, the official added, Iran held a technical and engineering exhibition in September.
The First Exhibition of Iran’s Technical and Engineering Services in Water, Electricity and Energy Sectors was held in Kabul, alongside the first edition of Urban Services, Transportation, Traffic and Related Machinery Exhibition from Sept. 22 to 24.
“Iran dispatched its biggest trade delegation over the past 25 years to Afghanistan to attend this exhibition for negotiating Iran’s capabilities and Afghanistan’s market capacities,” the official said.
Twenty-one Iranian companies in the urban services sector and 54 companies in technical and engineering services sector participated in the exhibitions, Iran’s Embassy in the Afghan capital said in an announcement.
Javanmard-Qassab noted that although Iran aims to increase exports to Afghanistan, there are many infrastructural handicaps in the way.
“Facilities at the common border checkpoints are not sufficient to accommodate higher trade volumes. This needs to be addressed by officials of the two sides … The two countries have congenial cooperation that has strengthened ties between Iranian and Afghan merchants and businesspeople. Therefore, a boost in trade is not far-fetched, if the proper infrastructure is prepared.
Latest data released by the Customs Administration of Iran show 2.6 million tons worth $871 million were exported from Iran to Afghanistan during the first five months of the current fiscal year (July 22-Aug. 21), accounting for 8% of Iran's total exports to the neighboring country during the period.