KABUL,Jan 2 (Reuters) – The Taliban administration will encourage self-sufficiency and wants international trade and investment, the acting commerce minister said, as Afghanistan faces isolation and suspension of some humanitarian operations over restrictions on women.
“We will start a national self-sufficiency programme, we will encourage all government administrations to use domestic products, we will also try to encourage people through mosques to support our domestic products” Haji Nooruddin Azizi told Reuters. “We will support any item which can help us for self-sufficiency.”
Another part of their strategy was to boost trade and foreign investment, he said.
“Those who were importing items to Afghanistan from abroad, they are asking us to provide opportunities for investing in Afghanistan and they want to invest here instead of importing from abroad,” he said.
He said that countries including Iran, Russia and China were interested in trade and investment. He said some of the projects under discussion are industrial parks and thermal power plants in China with Russia and Iran participating.
Investors already face a lack of formal recognition and sanctions hampering the country’s banking sector, and face mounting security concerns after Islamic State’s allegations of attacks on foreign targets in Kabul. .
Several foreigners were seriously injured in an attack on a hotel for Chinese businessmen earlier this month, which may prompt some to consider investing, a top member of the Chinese business community said. .
“We are doing our best to ensure that business people are not harmed. The attack did not have a negative impact, but [but] if it continues to occur, it could have a negative impact,” he said, referring to the investment environment.
Azizi advocated a plan to develop industry by creating a special economic zone on land that was used as a US military base. He said his ministry has presented the plan to the cabinet and the government’s economic committee.
He added that foreign investors have shown interest in Afghanistan’s mining sector, which is worth more than $1 trillion. is participating in the auction and said the results will be announced soon. He said a major contract for supplies of gas, oil and wheat signed with Russia in September envisaged the delivery of goods to Afghanistan in the coming days.
The Taliban-led government has faced a recent increase in isolation by denying women access to public life, including universities.
Orders banning NGO workers have disrupted the humanitarian sector that provides emergency aid to millions of people, with some organizations shutting down in the middle of the harsh winter.
Azizi did not comment on the new restrictions, but the ministry said he had set aside five hectares of land for a permanent exhibition center and a women-run business center.
