BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 23. Uzbekistan and Afghanistan look to increase the volume of bilateral trade, as well as to strengthen economic ties, Trend reports via Uzbekistan’s Foreign Ministry.
The matter was discussed between a delegation from Uzbekistan headed by the Special Representative of the Uzbek President on Foreign Policy issues Abdulaziz Kamilov and Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Ghani Baradar, acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan Amir Khan Muttaqi, as well as Afghanistan’s acting Defense Minister Mullah Yaqoob.
During the meeting, besides matters of boosting trade-economic relations, the parties also touched upon issues of expanding cooperation in the field of transport and energy.
According to the State Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan, Afghanistan enters the list of 15 main trade partners of Uzbekistan. Trade turnover between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan from January through February 2023 amounted to $110.1 million, increasing by 5.4 percent, compared to the same period of 2022 ($104.4 million). The volume of goods and services imported by Afghanistan from Uzbekistan in the reporting period amounted to $109.3 million, while imports totaled $800,000.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s trade turnover with Uzbekistan reached $759.9 million in 2022, which is an increase of 12.7 percent year-on-year ($673.7 million in 2021). In the reporting period, Uzbekistan exported to Afghanistan some 48, 700 tons of fruits and vegetables worth $31.1 million.