EU envoy vows support to Afghanistan’s trade development

Officials from the Afghan government, the European Union delegation in Kabul and private sector attended a meeting on the ‘Advancing Afghan Trade’ project, which is facilitated by the International Trade Center.
The project is an EU-funded initiative, launched in November 2016, which aims to strengthen the country’s trade capacities so as to capitalize on the accession of the country to the World Trade Organization, the EU said in a statement on Saturday.
The statement says that the project supports Afghanistan to improve its business environment in order for Afghan products to integrate the regional and global value chains.
Participants reviewed the progress over the last three years of the project and discussed plans for the activities to be further implemented until the end of this phase in six-month time.
“Working on trade in Afghanistan is working on peace,” the EU Ambassador in Afghanistan, Pierre Mayaudon, said. “We are supporting the Afghan Government’s trade agenda through the ‘Advancing Afghan Trade’. EU prioritizes economic integration and connectivity as a key to achieving peace.”
“I announce the continuation of the EU’s support for years 2020-24 through phase two of the project, funded by €12 million,” Ambassador Mayaudon added.
The ‘Advancing Afghan Trade’ EU-funded project supports the Ministry of Industry and Commerce objective to reach $1.0b of exports this year,” said Ajmal Ahmadi, Minister of Industry and Commerce.
In the coming months, until the end of phase 1, the project will further support bilateral dialogues with trading partners from the region, coach SMEs on exports procedures, launch the Afghanistan trade portal, see the Afghanistan National Trade Policy officially endorsed by the Afghan government and finalize the preparations and design of phase 2 due to start in the 1st quarter of 2020.