Iran, Afghanistan Ink 5 Economic Coop. MOUs

Iran and Afghanistan signed five memorandums of understanding (MOUs) on cooperation in different economic sectors.

The MOUs were signed in a ceremony on Thursday night at the presence of Iranian Agriculture Minister Mohammad-Ali Nikbakht, President Raisi’s special envoy for Afghanistan Hassan Kazemi Qomi, and Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs of the Taliban Government Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.

As reported, the mentioned MOUs include the cooperation document of Iran-Afghanistan Joint Economic Committee meeting, the document of the two sides’ Joint International Road Transport Cooperation Committee meeting, the MOU between Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) and the Afghan side, the MOU between Iran’s Esfahan Steel Company and the Afghan side, and the MOU between Iran’s Secretariat of Free Trade and Special Economic Zones and the Afghan sides.

Afghanistan’s delegation arrived in Iran on Saturday (November 4). The 30-member delegation was led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. In the same day, Iran’s capital Tehran hosted an Iran-Afghanistan Joint Economic Committee meeting for the first time after the new government in Afghanistan took office.

The Iranian and Afghan representatives to Joint Economic Committee held the first day of their meeting, with high-ranking economic officials of both countries being in attendance. The formation of joint working groups in fields such as trade, transit, transportation, customs and the environment were discussed on the first day of the two-day meeting.

The two sides also agreed on the formation of several more working groups tasked with identifying problems in the way of economic cooperation between the two neighbors. Also, Iranian Transport and Urban Development Minister Mehrdad Bazrpash hosted a meeting with Afghanistan’s Acting Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation Hamidullah Akhundzada in which the two sides discussed ways of developing transport ties. - Tehran Times