TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, August 19. Uzbekistan and Afghanistan plan to increase mutual trade turnover up to $1 billion this year and up to $3 billion in the future, Trend reports.
The news followed the visit of an Uzbek delegation led by Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov to Afghanistan. During the visit, the Uzbek delegation held bilateral meetings with the acting Prime Minister of Afghanistan Abdul Ghani Baradar, Deputy Prime Minister for Administrative Affairs Abdul Salom Hanafi, Deputy Prime Minister for Political Affairs Abdul Kabir, and Foreign Minister Amir Khan Mutaki.
During the meetings, the sides discussed developing trade ties, bringing to a new level of effective cooperation in the energy sector, implementing joint projects to develop copper, iron, oil and gas deposits, as well as deepening relations in the fields of transportation and logistics, agriculture and water management, education and interregional ties based on these principles.
At the end of the meetings, both sides signed several documents.
Meanwhile, the trade turnover volume between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan totaled $461.4 million from January through June 2024. This indicator has increased by 24.1 percent year-on-year ($371.8 million in January–June 2023).
Afghanistan ranked 10th among the countries with the largest volume of foreign trade turnover in Uzbekistan.