KABUL (Reuters) – The Taliban administration will encourage self-sufficiency and needs international trade and investment, the acting commerce minister said, as Afghanistan faces isolation and suspension of some humanitarian operations over restrictions on women.
“We’ll start a national self-sufficiency programme, we are going to encourage all government administrations to make use of domestic products, we may even attempt to encourage people through mosques to support our domestic products” he told Reuters. “We’ll support any item which might help us for self-sufficiency.”
One other a part of their strategy was to spice up trade and foreign investment, he said.
“Those that were importing items to Afghanistan from abroad, they’re asking us to offer opportunities for investing in Afghanistan they usually want to take a position here as an alternative of importing from abroad,” he said.
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He said that countries including Iran, Russia and China were occupied with trade and investment. He said a few of the projects under discussion were Chinese industrial parks and thermal power plants, with involvement from Russia and Iran.
Already facing a scarcity of formal recognition and sanctions hampering the country’s banking sector, investors are faced with growing security concerns after attacks on foreign targets in Kabul, claimed by the Islamic State.
An attack on a hotel catering to Chinese businessmen this month, which badly hurt several foreigners, could prompt some to re-think investing, a number one member of the Chinese business community has said.
Azizi said authorities were working to make sure security.
“We do our greatest for our businessmen to not come to harm. The attack hasn’t had any bad impact, (but) if it happened continuously, yes it may need bad impact,” he said, referring to the investment environment.
Azizi laid out a plan to develop industry by creating special economic zones on land previously used for U.S. military bases. He said his ministry was presenting the plan to the administration’s cabinet and economic commission.
He added that foreign investors were showing interest in Afghanistan’s mining sector, which has been valued at greater than $1 trillion. He said that an iron mine in western Herat and a lead mine in central Ghor province had seen 40 corporations participate in an auction and that the outcomes can be announced soon.
He said that a serious contract signed with Russia in September for the availability of gas, oil and wheat would see the delivery of the items to Afghanistan in coming days.
The Taliban-led administration is facing increased isolation over policies in recent days restricting women from access to public life, including attending university.
An order barring female NGO employees has thrown the humanitarian sector, which is providing urgent aid to hundreds of thousands of individuals, into disarray, with some organisations suspending operations in the course of the tough winter.
Azizi didn’t comment on the brand new restrictions but said his ministry had allocated 5 acres of land for a everlasting exhibition centre and hub for women-led businesses.
“We at all times support women investors,” he said.
(Reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar; Writing by Charlotte Greenfield. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
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