Tehran, Kabul ink MOU to expand economic ties

TEHRAN,Jan.31(MNA)--Iran and Afghanistan wrapped up their second joint economic committee meeting in Kabul on Monday with signing a memorandum of understanding to expand trade and economic ties in different sectors. Iranian deputy economy minister Behrouz Alishiri and his Afghan counterpart Mustafa Mastoor inked the MOU. The MOU includes boosting cooperation in customs, banking and insurance sectors, as well as fighting smuggling of goods at borders, the report further added. The value of trade between Iran and Afghanistan stood at around $2 billion in the first 11 months of 2011, of which $1.5 billion was Iran’s exports to the neighboring country, Iran’s Industry, Mine and Trade Minister Mehdi Ghazanfari said. He made the remarks on the sidelines of his meeting with Afghanistan’s minister of commerce and industries, Anwar-Ul-Haq Ahady, in Tehran on December 24, 2011. The Afghan minister, for his part, said that Iranian companies are carrying out 110 technical-engineering projects, worth $360 million, in Afghanistan. Iran mainly exports pharmaceuticals, cement, iron and steel products, detergents and gasoline to Afghanistan. Afghan Ambassador to Tehran Abidollah Abid said in March that annual trade between Tehran and Kabul could reach $6 billion.