Kazakhstan wants to expand trade relations with Afghanistan

The Ministry of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan has offered Afghanistan to open its trade promotion office in Kazakhstan and more actively use the potential of the Kazakhstani trade house in Herat, according to the Central Communication Service.

What happened? Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan Serik Zhumangarin and Minister of Commerce and Industry of Afghanistan Haji Nooruddin Azizi discussed what the two countries can do to expand their cooperation.

What are the two countries going to do to expand trade?

– Utilizing an alternative transportation route via Turkmenistan. Currently, Kazakhstani grain and flour go to Afghanistan via the railway station of Galaba in Uzbekistan. This route is quite expensive for Kazakhstani exporters, although Uzbekistan has provided a 20% discount for Kazakhstani goods. This is why Kazakhstan Railways is going to provide an additional 10% discount in addition to a previous 30% discount on the transit of cargo to Afghanistan via Turkmenistan;

– Expanding the role of Kazakhstani businesses in a range of economic projects Afghanistan plans to launch in the spheres of transportation, mining, telecommunication and agriculture;

– Increasing the number of Afghani students studying in Kazakhstani universities. So far, there are 130 students from Afghanistan at Kazakh National University. Every year, 30 Afghani students are enrolled in Kazakhstani universities.

What did Kazakhstan ask Afghani authorities about? Zhumangarin asked the Afghani minister of commerce to cut bulk cargo transportation tariffs to $200 as high transportation costs make the Trans-Afghan route less attractive.

What kind of results have the two countries already achieved?

– Apart from grain and flour, Kazakhstan is exporting metal, mineral fertilizers, rye and flax to Afghanistan;

– After Zhumangarin visited Afghanistan in April of this year, Kazakhstani businesses kicked off the export of energy drinks, starchy goods, fertilizers and textiles to Afghanistan. Moreover, there is a huge demand for Kazakhstani sunflower oil in Afghanistan. «There is a lot of work ahead of us,» Zhumangarin described the situation;

– Kazakhtelecom and its Afghani counterpart have agreed that the Kazakhstani company will provide Afghani consumers with access to the internet through fiber-optic channels.

Details. Over the period from 2005, the gross inflow of investments from Afghanistan to Kazakhstan reached $11.7 million. The two sides even established 52 joint ventures which are operating in Kazakhstan, mainly in trade. In April, when a Kazakhstani delegation visited Kabul, the two sides decided to increase the bilateral trade turnover from $1 billion to $3 billion.

The Kazakh-Afghani cooperation

According to Zhumangarin, win-win economic cooperation is the cornerstone of Kazakhstan’s relations with Afghanistan. The country’s government is not cooperating with the Taliban (the group is prohibited in Kazakhstan) but with the country of Afghanistan.

«We believe that politics and economy are not the same. We are going to expand this economic cooperation. We really can expand our exports of grain, flour and sunflower oil to this country. I think we should seize this opportunity. This is going to be good for our country,» the vice minister said.

He also highlighted that Kazakhstani businesses continue expanding their exports to the Afghani market.

The context

The Taliban is an Islamic fundamentalist group, whose activity is prohibited in many countries worldwide, including Kazakhstan. The group has ruled Afghanistan since August 2021. President Joe Biden announced his decision to withdraw American military personnel from Afghanistan in April 2021. By August 2021, when the U.S. and its allies withdrew all their troops from the country, the Taliban had almost all of the country under its control. They have called it the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

On August 20, 2021, Deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Akan Rakhmetullin said that the country’s government didn’t recognize the Taliban and fully supported the stance of the UN Security Council that argued against any group threatening other states or breaching international law. However, Kazakhstani officials have visited Kabul and met representatives of the Taliban in order to discuss a range of issues related to the humanitarian sphere and trade.