Customs Infrastructures and Economic Zones

In June 11, 2020, Mohammad YousufGhazanfar, the president’s special envoy on Development, Economic, Commercial and Alleviation of Poverty Affairs chaired ameeting for development of custom infrastructures, and constructing economic zones of the country. The meeting was attended by H.E. Abdul HadiArghandiwal, Acting Minister of Finance, Ajmal Ahmadi, CEO of Da Afghanistan Bank, and the representative of Sasaki, an American Company. In the meeting, developingcustom infrastructures and constructing economic zones by Sasaki were discussed.

Mohammad YousufGhazanfar, the president’s special envoy on Development, Economic, Commercial and Alleviation of Poverty Affairs delivered spoke about the needs and priorities of the Afghanistan government; one of the top priorities is to invest in the country's economic zones and custom infrastructure. Thereforewe made an agreement with the Sasaki Company, a reputable and experienced international company in the field of cities, ports and economic zones’ design. The government has contracted with this company since 2015 to designthe economic zones and custom infrastructures.

Moreoever, H.E. Arghandiwal, Acting Minister of Finance, asserted that according to theneeds and priorities of the government,we want to build custom infrastructure and economic zones, to further facilitate our custom processes. We want the Sasaki Company to also design the infrastructure, so that Afghanistan can export and import with international standards.

Ajmal Ahmadi, CEO of Da Afghanistan Bank,emphasized that Sasaki is an international company that has been cooperating with Afghanistan for many years; italso has good experience of working in European countries.

Mr. Dennis, the representative of Sasaki briefed the participants on the company’s experience. “We have already worked on the plans for five major cities and want to continue our cooperation with Afghan Government” he added. He further stated that our technical team is ready to cooperate and we want to visit the designated areas to create an acceptable plan for both sides.

At the end, it was decided that a technical team from the Development, Economic, Commercial and Alleviation of Poverty Affairs, Ministry of Finance and Sasaki company should discuss on technical issues; then the Ministry of Finance prepare a contract with the company to work on designing Balkh economic zone and custom.