Trade delegation from Uzbekistan seeks Afghan coal

A trade delegation from Uzbekistan announced at a meeting with officials of the Taliban interim government in Afghanistan that it is ready to import coal from Afghanistan to create a trade balance between the countries. Tasnim reported this.

On February 4, a Uzbek trade delegation visited Kabul and met with the Taliban Ministry of Industry and Trade, expressing its readiness to import coal from Afghanistan to balance trade between the two countries.

According to the Taliban Ministry of Industry and Trade, trade agreements worth $4.5 million were signed between private companies of the two countries during this visit. Taliban Minister of Industry and Trade Nuriddin Azizi proposed holding joint fairs to showcase local products and production of the two countries during a meeting with the Uzbek delegation and suggested holding up to five fairs annually at the Termez International Trade Center.

The parties also discussed various issues, including negotiations on a preferential trade agreement, the establishment of a cement production plant in Samangan province, and the creation of trading houses in both countries.

It should be recalled that in July 2024, a delegation of about 300 Afghan entrepreneurs and businessmen, led by the Taliban Minister of Industry and Trade, Nuriddin Azizi, arrived in Uzbekistan. They met with the Afghan delegation led by Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov at the Cabinet of Ministers. Additionally, in October, a $1 billion contract was signed with a Uzbek company to explore and extract natural gas from the Tuti-Maidan field located in the Jawzjan and Faryab provinces of northern Afghanistan