DUSHANBE, March 17, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- Afghan delegation that arrived in Tajikistan to participate in an international industrial and trade exhibition wants to sign an agreement with Tajikistan’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) on organization of the second exhibition dedicated to Afghanistan’s economic development in Dushanbe this year, Mr. Abdul Qadir Bahman, head of the international cooperation department of Afghanistan’s CCI, told Asia-Plus Wednesday afternoon. 

According to him, the first Afghan exhibition that took place in the Tajik capital last year was successful and many Afghan entrepreneurs found business partners in Tajikistan and a number of joint ventures were launched.

Mr. Bahman also noted that Afghanistan was seeking expansion of bilateral trade with Tajikistan, which currently did not correspondent to its real potential.  “However, there are some obstacles on the ways of boosting bilateral mutually beneficial trade between our countries, and one of them is the problem with getting visa,” said Afghan official, “The sides are currently considering the issue of canceling the visa regime at the governmental level.”

In the meantime, according to the Agency for Statistics under the President of Tajikistan, trade between Tajikistan and Afghanistan over the first two months of this year has amounted to 12.418 million somoni, which is 31.9 percent more than in the same period last year.  In 2009, a two-way trade between Afghanistan and Tajikistan valued at 43 million U.S. dollars.  This consisted of Tajikistan’s exports to Afghanistan estimated at 36 million U.S. dollars and Tajikistan’s imports from Afghanistan worth 7 million U.S. dollars.