Iran has held talks with Afghanistan to help exploit iron ore mines in the country, Reza Fatemi Amin told Iran’s Arabic news channel, Al Alam.
Afghanistan is rich in mineral reserves. A huge deposit of an Iranian iron ore mine named Sangan, which is situated in Khaf lies in Afghanistan, he said.
Thanks to its facilities and high-tech know-how, Iran can help exploit the iron ore in Afghanistan. This will be mutually beneficial, he added.
We are following up the negotiations with the Afghan party to gradually build processing capacities in Afghanistan, he noted.
We can swap Iranian goods for the ore we exploit in Afghanistan, Reza Fatemi-Amin further noted.
Afghanistan is one of the poorest nations in the world, he said, noting that the country lies at the crossroads of Central and South Asia and is sitting on mineral deposits worth nearly $1 trillion, including critical industrial metals such as lithium.
Iran sees Afghanistan's development as a boon to its own. The constant principle for Iran has been the development of its neighbor irrespective of who rules the country because underdevelopment and insecurity in Afghanistan also affect Iran, he underlined.
Iran is Afghanistan’s largest trading partner, accounting for nearly a third of its total trade volume. However, transactions are about to fall short of the $2.7 billion targets set for this year, he added.
Vice-Chairman of the Mines and Mining Industries Commission of Iran Chamber of Commerce Gholam Sarvar Nouti Zehi said late January that Iranian local chamber of Sistan-Baluchestan had begun negotiations with Afghan officials for investment in the mining sector of the neighboring country.