The Head of the Public Relations Office of the Senior Advisor to the President in Banking and Finance, Sameer Rasa, on Sunday said since the launch of the air cargo corridor between Afghanistan and New Delhi, in India, six months ago, fresh produce, dried fruit and medicinal plants to the value of $20 million USD has been exported to India. 
 
According to Rasa it is expected that within two days, cargo flights will also be launched to Mumbai in India.  
 
Rasa said that in the six months since the launch of the cargo route, 10,640 tons of fresh and dried fruit, medicinal plants and handcrafts have been exported to Indian markets.
 
“On Wednesday we will open the second air corridor from Afghanistan to another important city in India and this is based on demand from traders,” Rasa said. 
 
In addition, Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) said that the establishment of air corridors between Afghanistan and India is key to boosting exports to India and also to the rest of the world. 

 
“When we look back at our exports in the past six months the total volume of our exports in which the air corridor had a significant role, we have seen a dramatic increase and it totals - in the six months - to about $398 million USD,” said Atiqullah Nusrat, deputy head of ACCI.
 
“The government must manage air cargo routes properly between Afghanistan and India so as to increase the country's export level,” said Nabi Sadat an economic analyst. 
 
This comes amid ongoing talks between government and the private sector to open up other air cargo routes to foreign countries. 
 
But some businessmen have said that government needs to focus on attracting investment for the packaging sector for agricultural products if it wants to increase its exports.