Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) has outlined a plan to establish a joint trade and transit company in order to conduct and facilitate trade between Afghanistan and Kazakhstan, officials said at an Afghanistan-Kazakhstan Business Forum meeting in Kabul on Saturday.

“Once the company is established, we will sign a six-month or one year contract, based on which we will know what we have purchased from Kazakhstan and what we have sold,” said Khan Jan Alokozay, the ACCI deputy head.

At the same event, the head of Kazakhstan’s investment department, Askar Aryanov, who heads an 11-member delegation of Kazakh companies, said Kazakhstan firms are interested to increase their investment in Afghanistan and sell high quality products with lower prices to Afghan traders.

“As a result of efforts made by the two countries to expand trade relations [between Afghanistan and Kazakhstan], we will provide Afghanistan with more facilities. Even Afghanistan can be connected to the trilateral railway of Astana, Ashgabat and Iran,” he said.

Officials from Kazakhstan Embassy in Kabul meanwhile said they continue their efforts to resolve transit problems and export more Kazakhstan’s products to Afghanistan.

“Currently the most challenging issue for Afghanistan and Kazakhstan is in the transit sector. The goods are loaded from Kazakhstan and are being transferred to Afghanistan after crossing a few Middle Eastern countries and we hope to overcome the problems in the near future,” said Anwarov, a diplomat from the Kazakhstan Embassy in Kabul.

Last year, the trade exchange between Afghanistan and Kazakhstan was $430 million USD, of which Afghanistan exported goods worth $11 million USD.