Afghan business community keen to boost trade with India at Pakistan’s cost
New Delhi, July 19: Amidst a strong desire to cut trading ties with a hostile Pakistan, the business community of Afghanistan are keen to boost economic and commercial relations with India and want facilitation in this regard.
Afghanistan’s top chamber of commerce has pitched for easier business procedures, fewer administrative hurdles and faster issuance of visas to its business persons.
These suggestions were put fortch by Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment (ACCI) Chairman Sayed Karim Hashemi during his meeting with Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan Yatin Patel in Kabul.
According to a statement issued by the ACCI, Hashemi, who recently visited India, reaffirmed the chamber’s commitment to strengthening long-term economic cooperation with India and stressed the need to simplify trade procedures and strengthen private sector institutions.
Referring to his visit to India, Hashemi “stressed the need to sustain and deepen economic cooperation in the fields of agricultural exports, handicrafts, mining, and mineral resources.”
He also presented “several strategic proposals aimed at increasing Afghanistan’s exports, including expanding access to target markets, improving logistics infrastructure, and facilitating the issuance of business visas,” the statement said.
The Indian ambassador welcomed the proposals and “reaffirmed India’s support in the identified areas of cooperation.”
Patel said plans are underway to organise joint trade exhibitions, specialised business forums and exchanges of trade delegations between the two countries.
India-Afghanistan bilateral trade stood at $907.85 million in 2025-26 and has broadly remained around the $1 billion mark over the past five years.
India has been expanding connectivity with Afghanistan through Iran’s Chabahar Port, which provides direct access to the landlocked country while bypassing Pakistan, which does not permit overland transit of Indian goods to Afghanistan.
Pakistan Trade Falls Sharply
The meeting came against the backdrop of a steep fall in Afghanistan’s transit trade with Pakistan in the wake of the latter’s repeated cross-border air strikes and other forms of aggression against the neighbouring country.
Transit trade between the two neighbours declined to $367 million in FY26, down from around $5 billion in FY21, as Afghanistan increasingly shifted to alternative trade routes, including through Iran. (BVI)
