Washington, October 10: The United States and Afghanistan held talks on Friday on how to boost trade and investment ties, U.S. trade officials said.
The meeting of the U.S.-Afghanistan Trade and Investment Council came as U.S. President Barack Obama is considering sending 40,000 more troops to fight in the eight-year-old war in Afghanistan.
“Today’s meeting demonstrates … the importance both countries place on strengthening a long-term relationship and strategic partnership that broadens our cooperation beyond military and security ties to programs that promote the private sector and economic development,” the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said in a statement.
USTR said the talks focused on five areas including the current investment climate in Afghanistan.
The United States imported only about $85 million worth of goods from Afghanistan last year. It exported about $482 million worth of products, mostly vehicles, telecommunications equipment, aircraft and food products.
The country is one of the poorest in the world and has suffered from more than three decades of conflict and violence.
It is the world’s leading producer of opium, a paste made from poppies that is processed to make heroin. Taliban militants are mainly funded by the opium trade.
In one sign of progress, the country’s per capita income has risen from $100 in the past seven years to $480.
A bill aimed at increasing U.S. imports from Afghanistan by creating Reconstruction Opportunity Zones in that country has stalled in Congress, despite White House support.
USTR said the two sides discussed that proposal, plus how Afghanistan could take advantage of another program known as the Generalized System of Preferences to increase its exports to the United States.
“The United States also congratulated Afghanistan on submission of its Memorandum on Foreign Trade Regime to the World Trade Organization, an important step toward accession to the WTO, and the parties discussed next steps,” USTR said.
Other talks focused on how to increase trade between Afghanistan and countries in South and Central Asia, as well as U.S. agricultural aid programs and ideas for expanding agricultural and microcredit cooperation, USTR said.
“The parties also noted the need for Pakistan and Afghanistan to successfully conclude by the end of 2009 negotiation of the Afghanistan and Pakistan Trade and Transit Agreement (APTTA) to replace the outdated agreement of 1965,” USTR said.
–Agencies