Russia, Afghanistan to expand cooperation in agro-industry sector

Khabibulin told Novosti that this issue was discussed during a meeting of representatives of the Russian Business Council with the acting Afghan Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock Attaullah Omari.

The parties also discussed increasing the export and import of agricultural products and expanding the range of products, developing the activities of Russian agricultural companies in Afghanistan, as well as finding new logistics routes that would significantly reduce the cost of transporting agricultural products.

“We have been given the task of increasing the volume of trade exchange between the two countries to $3 billion in 2025, and to $10 billion annually by 2030, with agricultural and animal products and agrochemicals taking the main share in this,” Habibullin said.

Last May, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk said that Moscow was interested in Afghanistan exporting its agricultural products to the Russian market, and noted that in addition, Moscow and Kabul had discussed the project to build the Trans-Afghan Railway, in which Moscow had expressed readiness to participate.

Overchuk stated that the volume of trade exchange between Russia and Afghanistan reached about $560 million in 2023, while the head of the Russian Business Center confirmed, in turn, that this number has reached $1 billion at the present time.

Source: “Novosti”