Head of the EU Delegation to Afghanistan met with ACCI vice president

Tuesday, 05 December 2017 - Head of the EU Delegation to Afghanistan Mr. Pierre Mayaudon, called on ACCI Vice President Mr. Khan Jan Alokozay. In the meeting which took place at Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries, ACCI, Both sides discussed issues of bilateral interest.

Mr. Mayaudon mentioned the aim of his meeting with ACCI, to discuss the available opportunities and existing challenges encountered by private sector as well as cooperation of the EU in this regard. According to him, there is need for further struggles in this regard. Mr. Mayaudon called the lack of access by Afghanistan to EU trade preferences for 49 developing countries, a big gape in the way of business expansion and development. According to him, access to these preferences is necessary for the good relations between Afghanistan and the EU countries as well as to have access to market and development of human and business resources.

Mr. Alokozay, welcomed the honorable guest and briefed him about the decent relationship between Afghanistan and The EU countries. He said:” in the past, 80 percent of our trade, including exports and imports took place with The EU countries. But along with political fluctuations in the country, our trade and business was also affected due to these variations. Former Soviet Union, Iran and Pakistan were largely influential in this regard. Such deviations caused to take our valuable trade and business into inferiority and against the international norms and standards.

Pointing toward some existing obstacles in front of Afghan business Mr. Alokozay also said:” in-access to well-equipped laboratories and an organization to issue quality assurance certificate in accordance with the international standards to our products to be exported, transit trade issues with our neighbor countries, TIR related issues, close down of air corridors with some countries, security issues, corruption and bureaucracy in government institutions, and imposition of illegal taxes under different titles on the highways of the country are the issues challenging our business and trade. He also called for the creation of an organization and organized trade system with international standards through the assistance of international community to enable us perform better business dealings with different countries of the world through exporting our products to them.

At the conclusion, Mr. Alokozay called for practical steps toward removing the existing obstacles and challenges with the support of international community. In response Mr. Mayaudon thanked ACCI Vice Chairman for his valuable briefings and pledged to struggle toward maintaining better business relationship between Afghanistan and The European Union countries.

Source: http://www.acci.org.af/component/content/article/38-news/747-n.html