A joint economic forum between Afghanistan and Turkey is being planned, possibly for May, said Turkey’s Deputy Minister of Economy, Fatih Metin.
According to him, the plan is for discussions to be held on the development of commercial, investment and transit relations between the two countries.
Metin said that Turkey hopes to discuss the increase in trade volume exchange between the two countries.
He said delegates that will attend the forum will also focus on the development of trade and transit, investment opportunities for both Turks and Afghans, and the creation of trade facilities between Afghanistan and Turkey.
“One of the important issues to be discussed at this joint meeting is the growing volume of trade between Afghanistan and Turkey; and we are also working on developing our trade and transit relations,” said Metin.
Metin also said many Turkish companies are interested in investing in Afghanistan. He said Turkey supported them in this and has encouraged them to invest in the energy sector in Afghanistan.
“Our investors are interested in investing in solar energy and solar power generation in Afghanistan; in all sectors to produce clean energy, and we support them,” said Metin.
Meanwhile, officials from Afghanistan’s Ministry of Energy and Water said it is important to attract foreign investment in the energy sector in the country. Officials said there are major opportunities in this sector in Afghanistan.
“We have to use our resources and a very good move has been made; while there is a problem with the reduction of water among these resources, we need to use the water that we have,” said Sultan Mahmood Mahmoodi General Director of Water Management.
Based on information provided by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the volume of trade between Afghanistan and Turkey has dropped from about $300 million USD to just over $100 million USD in the past few years - despite the development of cooperation between Afghanistan and Turkey in recent years.
The officials in the chamber say that, considering the current trade and transit relations between Afghanistan and Turkey, the volume of trade between the two countries is likely to increase several times in the coming years.