In a major boost to cash-starved Afghanistan, representatives from the private sector of the Islamic Emirate and Kyrgyzstan inked Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) valued at over $156 million during a trade and investment conference in Kabul on Wednesday.
Confirming the development, Afghanistan's Ministry of Industry and Commerce, headed by the Taliban's Nooruddin Azizi, stated that the deals encompass a wide range of sectors such as agriculture, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, mining and energy, construction and banking, gold, footwear and logistics and transport.
Azizi underlined that the signing of these agreements was a significant move towards developing a strategically complementary economic relationship between Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan, besides strengthening their trade cooperation.
"Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan complement each other — one serving as a gateway to "the Economic Union markets, and the other linking," the minister said during his address at the event.
Of late, Afghanistan has put a lot of impetus on diversifying its trade to lower its dependency on ally-turned-foe Pakistan, which acts as a transit provider for Afghan items to international markets.
However, after Afghanistan and Pakistan engaged in violent border clashes in October, resulting in casualties on both sides, trade between them has remained suspended.