Khalilzad reacts to Abu Hanifa exhibition in Kabul

The fifth Abu Hanifa National and International Exhibition opened in Kabul on Wednesday and will run for seven days. Organisers say the event aims to showcase production and service capacities and expand trade.

According to published information, representatives and companies from inside and outside the country have presented their products and services to visitors through about 700 booths at the exhibition.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the former US special envoy for Afghanistan peace, said in response to the event that building exhibition infrastructure and strengthening trade relations could create conditions for greater economic engagement between Afghanistan, neighbouring countries and international markets.

The exhibition is taking place as the Taliban administration has, over the past nearly three years, sought to manage some of the economic pressure caused by international restrictions and sanctions by launching trade programmes and events and announcing facilities for regional traders.

In recent years, Kabul has hosted several trade exhibitions, events that, with the participation of companies from neighbouring countries, including Iran and Pakistan, as well as a number of Central Asian states, have become one of the ways Afghanistan maintains economic and transit ties with the region.