A host of events seeking to strengthen trade relations through interactions as well as people-to-people ties by providing a peek into the country, culture and cuisines were organised by the Consulate General of Afghanistan in Hyderabad.
Spread over five days and coinciding with an Afghanistan Food Festival in the city, the programmes included a meeting with well-known Afghan filmmaker Roya Sadat and a master class on Afghan cuisine by chef Fariba and her team from Afghanistan.
A buyer-seller meet earlier this week saw signing of 12 MoUs between traders from Afghanistan and their prospective customers in India on items ranging from dry fruits, sun-dried olives, carpets to silver jewellery.
A release from the Consulate on the programme said the Blue Pottery and Gem Stone were particularly appreciated by the Indian participants.
An import/export workshop was organised on Wednesday in which senior officials from the DGFT and FIEO sought to underscore the potential of growing the India-Afghanistan bilateral trade, which now is around $1.5 billion, with much of it coming by way of exports from India.
The export basket from Afghanistan is dominated by dried figs, asafoetida, raisin, saffron caraway fennel and onion. The top five items that India exports to Afghanistan are textile, sugar, transmission towers, tobacco and medicines.
Consul General Muhammad Suleman Kakar addressed the meeting, while Commercial Head from the Embassy of Afghanistan Mohammad Mansoor Sahak made a presentation and explained growth prospects of investing on the commodities front in Afghanistan, a release from Consulate said.
On Thursday, a B2B meet was organised as part of ‘Invest in Afghanistan’ business series with focus on healthcare, pharmacy, agri-business, infrastructure and information technology. The release said the trade meetings were aimed at building on the strong historical and cultural links between both the countries.
