Taliban says it is seeking to expand trade ties with Bangladesh

The Taliban administration said a meeting between the acting economy minister and a Bangladeshi delegation stressed expanding trade and economic relations between Afghanistan and Bangladesh. According to the Taliban administration, the talks focused on investment, trade and cooperation between the private sectors of the two countries.

The Taliban-run Ministry of Economy said in a statement on Wednesday that Din Mohammad Hanif, the ministry’s acting head, met with a delegation made up of Bangladeshi scholars, traders, industrialists and investors. During the meeting, he raised investment opportunities in agriculture, mining, industry, energy, domestic production, transit and trade.

Hanif said expanding economic relations with regional countries, increasing commerce and attracting foreign investment are among Afghanistan’s economic policy priorities. He also said closer economic cooperation between Afghanistan and Bangladesh could, in the medium and long term, help increase bilateral trade, investment, job creation, domestic production and the development of Afghanistan’s exports.

According to the statement, members of the Bangladeshi delegation also welcomed the expansion of trade and investment with Afghanistan and put forward suggestions on possible areas of cooperation. The two sides also stressed strengthening ties between the private sectors of the two countries and more direct contact between traders, industrialists and investors to identify new areas of economic cooperation.

Bangladesh is one of the countries of South Asia and its economy is based mainly on industry, export-oriented production and trade. In recent years, the Taliban administration has repeatedly spoken of efforts to expand economic relations with regional countries, but many of these interactions have remained at the level of meetings and expressions of readiness.