Australian ambassador to Afghanistan Richard Feakes has said his country is expected to increase the level of cooperation with Afghanistan following the recent visit by the Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to Kabul.

The Ministry of Economy (MoEc) has said that Australia’s economic cooperation with Afghanistan was key to improving the nation’s economic progress.

“Australia maintains an extraordinary reputation in the mining sector. Australian experience on extraction of mines will be helpful for Afghanistan which is rich in natural resources,” said economy ministry spokesman Suhrab Bahman.

The statements come a week after Turnbull visited Kabul where he held discussions on issues of common interest with the Afghan leadership.

“We have the fourth largest development assistance program here. Internationally, which focuses particularly on women and girls, on education, on building capacity of Afghan farmers and also those communities that are most vulnerable,” said Feakes.

Canberra is also set to provide 320 million Australian dollars in aid to Afghanistan until the end of 2020.

“You have challenges that Australia has, dry land farming is one of those and we have endowments  that we have, mining resources, so I think  there is a lot of scope for cooperation and partnership,” added Feakes.

Last month, President Ashraf Ghani also visited Australia where he signed two agreements with the Australian government on development programs and mining.

Currently Australia keeps 270 soldiers in Afghanistan who are deployed in Kabul and Kandahar provinces.