Afghanistan, Uzbekistan Seal $20M Business Deal in Kabul

Entrepreneurs from Afghanistan and Uzbekistan signed a cooperation agreement exceeding $20 million during a joint business forum held in Kabul.

The agreement was formalized at a bilateral trade meeting organized by the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment (ACCI), which brought together leading business figures and private sector representatives from both countries, The Caspian Post reports, citing Uzbek media.

Speaking at the event, Afghanistan’s Acting Minister of Industry and Commerce, Nooruddin Azizi, emphasized the need to deepen collaboration between the two nations’ private sectors.

“Trade and economic relations between Afghanistan and Central Asian countries, particularly the Republic of Uzbekistan, have reached an unprecedented level rarely seen in history,” Azizi stated.

He noted that sustained efforts by the private sector should lead to increased trade volumes and a more balanced trade relationship. The minister expressed Afghanistan’s ambition to raise bilateral trade with Uzbekistan to $3 billion.

Uzbekistan’s Ambassador to Kabul, Oybek Usmanov, reaffirmed Tashkent’s readiness to strengthen bilateral cooperation.

“We are prepared to raise our trade turnover to $2 billion in the coming years,” Usmanov was quoted as saying by Ariana News. He also highlighted that Afghanistan’s exports to Uzbekistan surged by 300 per cent in the first half of this year.

Chairman of the ACCI, Sayed Karim Hashemi, stressed the importance of government support for private enterprise, warning that without long-term multiple-entry business visas and other essential consular services, large-scale trade expansion would remain limited. He also called for the acceleration of an Agreement on the Promotion and Protection of Investments.

Head of Uzbekistan’s Association of Exporters, Bakhodir Toshmatov, described the forum as an important step forward.

“Trade relations between our countries are expanding every day. We’ve signed numerous commercial agreements as part of this partnership. Today’s meeting is about finding new avenues for private-sector cooperation,” he noted.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Younus Mohmand, First Deputy Chairman of the ACCI, proposed the creation of a regional joint chamber of commerce involving Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Türkiye, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan.

The event concluded with both sides underlining the need to simplify visa procedures, introduce preferential tariffs, create investor-friendly conditions, strengthen contract enforcement cooperation, and establish joint business councils between Kabul and Tashkent.