Taliban signs preliminary deal with Russia for import of cheap oil, gas & wheat
We shall not depend on one country for trade,” Taliban’s acting Minister of Commerce and Industry Haji Nooruddin Azizi, told Tolo news.
Afghanistan and Russia on Wednesday signed a provisional agreement for the import of petroleum products and wheat at discounted rates to alleviate the impact of the US-led sanctions on both countries. The deal inked an annual purchase of one million tonnes of petrol, one million tonnes of diesel, half a million tonnes of cooking gas and two million tonnes of wheat, Taliban’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry spokesperson Akhundzada Abdul Salam Jawad told DPA news agency on Sep 28.
The import, said the latter, is expected to begin soon. It would be the first major international deal that the Taliban signed since assuming power earlier last year after the fall of Kabul. Taliban. although, did not go into details of the mode of payment and method of export but only indicated that Moscow has agreed to sell the petrol and wheat at a significantly discounted price that would alleviate the humanitarian crisis within the war-torn nation.
“We shall not depend on one country for trade,” Taliban’s acting Minister of Commerce and Industry Haji Nooruddin Azizi, told Tolo news.
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Russia to start importing products ‘within days or weeks’
Azizi reiterated that Afghanistan also had trade relations with Iran and Turkmenistan as it imported oil and gas from both nations. Abdul Salam Jawad Akhundzada, a spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, meanwhile reportedly said that Russia will start importing the products “within days or weeks.” The deal follows the Taliban’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Nooruddin Azizi’s visit to Russia last month where he discussed establishing longer-term deals with Moscow as the United States continued to hold the Afghan assets. The minister also struck a deal with Iran to purchase 350,000 tons of petroleum products to ease fuel prices.
Earlier this year, Taliban pushed for US to unfreeze the Afghan assets, remove sanctions, and provide the humanitarian assistance in a meeting held with the US Treasury officials in Norway, as the group and Western diplomats met in Oslo. “Serious and effective talks were also held with senior US Treasury officials on frozen assets, economic sanctions, humanitarian aid,” Taliban’s Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying.
The hardline Islamist faction pushed the international community to unfreeze Afghan assets abroad in midst of the looming humanitarian devastation riled within the territory worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict. Later, Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi also wrote a letter to US Congress saying that freezing of Afghanistan’s assets “cannot resolve any problem.” He noted that if the assets remain frozen, the misery of the Afghans would worsen, as he asked the US government to review its decision and release the funds.
