Russia Says Trade With Afghanistan Doubled in First Six Months of Year

Zamir Kabulov, the special representative of Russia’s president for Afghanistan, has said the volume of trade between the two countries doubled in the first six months of this year, although he said the overall level of trade remains low.

Speaking on Friday, October 24, at a meeting on Central Asian and Afghan security, Kabulov said the growth in trade between Russia and Afghanistan was significant given the situation in the country after two decades of US and NATO military presence.

Representatives of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation attended the meeting. The Russian president’s special envoy stressed that the increase in trade should continue in a sustainable and gradual way.

Kabulov added that Russia would work to maintain the trend of trade growth and that cooperation based on mutual interests was taking shape between the two countries.