Initiated by the Islamic Emirate’s Deputy Economic Prime Minister, Mullah Abdul Ghani Beradar, a conference was held at the Serena Hotel, discussing economic and trade issues for the current year 2023. The conference was participated by local businessmen, foreign traders, members of the Afghan American Chamber of Commerce and senior government officials. The Deputy Economic Prime Minister spoke at the grand gathering, saying the Islamic Emirate was committed to providing a variety of facilities for domestic and foreign traders in a bid to improve economic and commercial development. Indeed, before the takeover of power by the Islamic Emirate, the economic situation faced a serious threat, but now it is improving. Corruption has been eliminated over the past two years of takeover and security restoration, the cultivation and production of narcotics have been prevented, the national currency has remained stable against foreign currencies, the price of food and non-food items has decreased, and there have been improvements in the banking sector. Also, the level of exports and imports has increased due to growing national income and domestic food production. As President of the Afghan American Chamber of Commerce (AACC) Jeff Greico said at the conference, they had been working since August 2021 in Washington, with the Afghanistan Banks Association (ABA) and all of the Afghan banks to help facilitate the return of the frozen assets of Afghanistan. According to him, the frozen foreign assets of Afghanistan were divided into two parts; the beneficiary account deposit and the foreign exchange reserves of Afghanistan from the previous government which are located in the central bank of the United States and European countries. The funds of the foreign exchange reserves of Afghanistan should be returned to the country and there is no reason for their suspension. The Afghanistan Banking Association should also work on how to approach the return of the commercial bank assets, as the asset is the property of the people and their freezing would only affect the poverty-battered nation and weaken the country’s economy. The initiative by the Deputy Economic Prime Minister would not only help economic growth strengthened, but also draw the attention of other countries’ traders and investors to invest in Afghanistan and finally result in the strengthening of interaction with the world countries.
