Trade ties to get a boost
New Delhi and Kabul appear all set to give a boost to their trade and economic ties with the signing of the strategic partnership agreement as well as two other pacts that provide for cooperation in the fields of mineral development and hydrocarbons.
While the strategic partnership document has a separate section on the areas in which India and Afghanistan will collaborate, the other two pacts are in the form of a memorandum of understanding each. The strategic partnership document in fact clearly says that the two sides have agreed “to create a favourable environment to promote trade and investment”.
In his remarks after the three pacts were signed here this evening, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that “these will add a new dimension to our economic relations”. For India at least the two MoAs are laden with significance as they are being seen as allowing it an entry into the huge mineral and energy reserves that Central Asia boasts of.
The MoA on mining aims at promoting private and public sector investment in mining and mining-related activities as well as mineral exploration and exploitation and mining in Afghanistan.
As for the MoA on developing hydrocarbons, it signed between the petroleum ministry and the Afghan ministry of mines, it provides for bilateral cooperation in the hydrocarbon sector, including oil and gas.
A substantial chunk of the strategic partnership agreement to is devoted to strengthening trade, economic, scientific and technological cooperation between the two countries. It provides for the two countries “deepening and diversifying cooperation” in areas such as agriculture, rural development, mining, industry, energy, information technology, communications, transport, civil aviation, etc.
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