KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Afghanistan and Uzbekistan private sector representatives signed 38 trade agreements valued at more than $520 million during a business conference in Kabul on Monday, the Taliban-run Ministry of Industry and Commerce announced.
In a statement posted on X, the ministry stated that the agreements were signed after the conference attended by Taliban Minister of Industry and Commerce Nooruddin Azizi, Shukhratbek Abdurakhmanov, Governor of Uzbekistan’s Andijan Region, along with business leaders and investors from both countries.
The deals cover a wide range of sectors, including iron smelting, cotton processing, cement production, poultry breeding, coal exports from Afghanistan to Uzbekistan, and the manufacturing of auto parts and other industrial goods, according to the statement.
Uzbek investors also signaled readiness to invest in additional sectors, including biscuit processing, furniture production, footwear, medical equipment, and construction materials in Afghanistan, the ministry said.
Both sides emphasized the importance of further expanding economic cooperation and increasing bilateral trade volumes in the coming years.
Trade between Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and Uzbekistan has grown steadily in recent years, reaching hundreds of millions of dollars annually, with Uzbekistan emerging as one of Afghanistan’s most important regional trading partners.
The latest agreements follow a $514.8 million private sector deal signed just two weeks ago, which included projects on poultry farming, cement and coal trade, agricultural products such as beans, lentils, dried fruits and vegetables, as well as imports of oil, petrol and other goods.
In late 2023, the two sides finalized a larger $1.2 billion trade package.
Although Uzbekistan has not formally recognized the Taliban administration, it has maintained pragmatic ties, keeping its embassy in Kabul open following the 2021 collapse of the previous government and handing over the Afghanistan embassy in Tashkent to Taliban-appointed diplomats.
