Afghanistan and India are likely to announce an air cargo
service on Saturday to help increase trade that both say is obstructed because
of their nervous political relations with Pakistan that lies between them.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Indian Prime Minister Narendra
Modi were meeting hold in the northern Indian city of Amritsar, a short
distance from the Pakistan border, for the Heart of Asia conference aimed at stabilizing
Afghanistan.
Officials say the focus of the air cargo service is to improve
landlocked Afghanistan’s connectivity to key markets abroad and boost the
growth prospects of its fruit and carpet industries, while it battles a deadly
Taliban insurgency.
Afghanistan depends on the Pakistani port of Karachi for its
foreign trade. It is allowed to send a limited amount of goods overland through
Pakistan into India, but imports from India are not allowed along this route.
Afghan Director General for macro fiscal policies Khalid Payenda
said the potential for trade with India, the largest market in the region, was
far greater than allowed by land and so the two countries had decided to use
the air route.
"That would be air cargo between Afghanistan and India. We
have a lot of potential for trade on both sides.
On our side, it´s mostly fruit and dried fruit and potentially
through India to other places for products like carpets and others.
"He said that a joint venture involving an Afghan and an
Indian cargo firm would be set up and that the two governments were working to
set up infrastructure at Kabul and Delhi airports.
An Indian government source attending the meeting in Amritsar
said air cargo route details were still being worked out and could include
Kandahar as a point of origin for shipping fruit directly to India.
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