Afghanistan Times
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By Akhtar M.Nikzad-KABUL: The Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce (AACC) held a joint session with both national and international businessmen to discuss perpetrations for 11th session of Business Matchmaking Conference (BMC) in Washington D.C.
The conference will be held on 8-10 December this year, where Afghan businessmen will encourage American investors to invest in Afghanistan.
The Chairman of AACC, Sulaiman Lutfi, said that the BMC summit is a good opportunity for the Afghan government to encourage the US investors to invest in Afghanistan. He said that hundreds of US companies are interested to invest in Afghanistan.
“This session of the BMC will be different, because more than 200 Afghan businessmen would participate in the conference to convince American investors to invest in different areas in the country,” he added.
Lutfi said that an important issue to be raised by Afghan businessmen in the conference will be encouraging US investors to invest Afghanistan’s airbases, which were recently handed over to the Afghan government. “AACC will encourage US to invest in airbases in Herat, Kandahar, and Balkh provinces,” he added.
Atiqullah Nusrat, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI), said that the Afghan government should lend its support to private sector in order to enhance investments and improve the country’s economy.
He said that investment in the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project will be also discussed in the conference.
“Trade relations between Afghanistan and the US have improved over the past 11 years and we will spare no efforts to enhance the bilateral trade ties,” he added.
Nusrat said that the US has played an important role in reconstruction of Afghanistan. He urged Washington to invest in mining and agriculture sectors of the country.
The deputy head of the ACCI, Khan Jan Alokozay, termed the BMC summit as a good opportunity to expand trade relations between Kabul and Washington. “To achieve economic growth, the government should support private sector,” he said.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AACC, Don Ritter, said the US businessmen are not aware of present investment opportunities in Afghanistan. “The media tells more about wars and conflicts, rather than development and progress in Afghanistan. Thus, the world is not aware of business opportunity in the country,” he added.
The BMC brings together businessmen from Afghanistan and United States together annually in Washington since 2005. The BMC summits are aimed at promoting businessmen-to-businessmen relations between the two countries.
