Tehran, Kabul target $10b in annual trade within three years
Iran's bilateral trade with Afghanistan reached $2.7 billion in the last Iranian year (ended March 21), and the two countries are now aiming to boost economic exchanges to $10 billion annually within the next three years, Iran's commercial attaché in Kabul said.
Hossein Roustaei told the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) that Afghanistan was currently Iran's fifth-largest trading partner, with total bilateral trade of $2.7 billion in the previous fiscal year.
Roustaei added that the two countries expected to reach their $10 billion target over the next three years by expanding industrial and mining cooperation, according to Iran's Trade Promotion Organization.
Senior officials from Iran's Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade and Afghanistan's Ministry of Industries and Mines met in the northeastern city of Mashhad early this month, alongside economic actors from both countries, to discuss ways of strengthening economic ties. The talks focused on the development of rail corridors, joint investments in mining projects, and the transfer of technical knowledge.
The two sides also explored joint investment opportunities in Afghanistan's mining sector, particularly in exploration, extraction and mineral processing.