Increasing Afghanistan’s trade from Abbas and Chabahar ports

The Afghanistan Trade and Investment Association says that after imposing restrictions on transit goods from Pakistan, the country’s trade has increased by 60 to 70 percent from Iran’s Abbas and Chabahar ports.

Khanjan Alkozi, a member of the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce and Investment, said:
The business we had from Turkey comes via Iran, and this business has a separate account, which is not related to this percentage, and the 50 percent of the business we have by sea is almost 60 to 70 percent more. The percentage is now coming from Chabahar and Bandar Abbas.

A number of traders say that if Pakistan does not lift the restrictions imposed on transit goods, they will do their business through alternative ways.

Nearly six months ago, Pakistan blocked more than 4,000 containers of Afghan traders in the port of Karachi, which caused a loss of about 36 million dollars to the traders.