NEW DELHI: Afghanistan’s Industry and Commerce Minister Al-Haj Nooruddin Azizi held talks with business leaders in New Delhi on Friday, as the Taliban government seeks to attract investment and scale up bilateral trade following the reopening of the Indian Embassy in Kabul.
Azizi arrived in the Indian capital on Wednesday for talks with Indian officials and industry leaders, making him the second senior official from Afghanistan to do so since the Taliban took power after the withdrawal of US-led troops from the country in 2021.
In a session organized by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Taliban official invited Indian businesses to seize opportunities in Afghanistan across various sectors.
“I would like to kindly invite Indian industries and Indian traders to see the potential of Afghanistan and the current enabling environment that we’ve already created,” Azizi said.
“It would be a very good opportunity in terms of exploring the mining industry, agriculture sectors, health, IT.”
M. Anand Prakash, a joint secretary in the Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran division at the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, said there was “significant scope for further growth” between Delhi and Kabul.
“We have decided to reactivate the joint working group on trade, commerce and investment,” he said. “We welcome the Afghan government’s decision to invite Indian companies to participate in mining as well as other high-value sector projects in Afghanistan.”
Azizi’s visit this week followed Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi’s trip in October, which saw Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar announce an upgrade of what Delhi called its “technical mission” in Kabul to the status of embassy and a reopening of the India-Afghanistan Air Freight Corridor.
The corridor is a 2017 trade initiative to promote direct air cargo connectivity, bypassing land routes that were often restricted due to political tensions, especially with Pakistan, which lies between the two countries.
On Thursday, Azizi met with Jaishankar and Minister of State for Commerce Jitin Prasada, where talks were focused on strengthening trade ties and connectivity.
In his meeting with Prasada, they discussed investment, joint ventures and expanding opportunities for Afghan exporters, the Afghan Ministry of Industry and Commerce said in a statement.
Azizi suggested India launch regular shipping lines via Iran’s Chabahar Port, develop dry ports in Afghanistan’s southwestern Nimroz province, which borders Iran, and ease cargo processing at Nhava Sheva, India’s largest container port near Mumbai, the ministry added.
He also sought to speed up visa issuance for Afghan traders and proposed cooperation in pharmaceuticals, cold storage, fruit processing, industrial parks and SME centers, his ministry said.
“Discussions reflected a shared commitment to strengthening bilateral trade and economic cooperation,” Prasada said on X after the meeting.
Dr. Ranjit Mehta, secretary general of PHDCCI, said he was optimistic of the “great opportunities” for Indian investors in Afghanistan.
“There are huge opportunities in the healthcare sector and medicines, pharma and all these, and then infrastructure development; these are the sectors which are very important,” he told Arab News.
“Afghanistan is building up, so there are opportunities in all of Afghanistan. I think the government is committed to really making things very easy, and they have assured that there is complete peace and Indian businesses would be given a proper atmosphere to do business there, and we are very happy about it.”
Gaurav Khanna, owner of Ashoka Engineering, said Azizi’s visit to India “inspired a lot of confidence” for businessmen like him.
“Things have changed drastically. I’ve been going there for almost … 17 years and things have totally changed. And (from a) safety perspective, which is a very important perspective for any investor, it’s very (good),” he told Arab News.
Khanna said he was drawn to invest in Afghanistan by its culture and people.
“People are very nice there, people are giving their 100 percent in the projects that we are already doing,” he said. “And they are welcoming us with open hearts and open hands for other projects as well.”
