Mahmoud Siadat, the chairman of Iran-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce, has stressed the need for Iranian businesspeople to make joint investments in Afghanistan.
In an exclusive interview with Iran Chamber of Commerce newsroom, Siadat said that the situation in Afghanistan has underwent significant changes and many policies have been changed.
He said that the new policies taken by Afghanistan’s Taliban ruling government are hindering Iran from exports of final products to the country, warning about threats that Iran could be removed from the Afghan market or have a less active presence there.
“We have to move towards making investments or joint investments in the Afghan market,” Siadat said, adding that this would be a critical decision to make at this time.
Referring to the decline in Iran’s trade with Afghanistan with the re-emergence of Taliban in 2021, he however said that bilateral trade between the two neighboring countries has been steadily rising over the past three years.
Iran’s exports to Afghanistan stand at $2 billion at present and there is potential for the figure to rise to $10 billion, he said, but did not provide a timeframe for this increase.