Archive

ACCI’s First Deputy to the board of directors Mr. Haji Muhammad Younus Muhmand, head of the secretariat of the board of directors Mr. Khan Muhammad Sarfaraz Baz, head of the finance of the board of directors Mr. Sherin Agha Sakhi, Ziauddin Achakzey and Ahmad Zia Azimi Shenozada members of the board of directors, investors and traders of the country met with the Acting Minister of Finance H.E Muhammad Khalid Painda and Customs Deputy Ms. Amena Ahmadi and had a discussion about the existing problems of the private sector.

Mr. Muhammad talked about the problems of traders importing spare parts, high tariffs on paper imports and non-payment to Kam Air for transporting goods to different parts of the world and asked the Ministry of Finance to provide legal solutions for these problems.

Mr. Muhammad Khalid Painda talked about the existing corruption and added that we want to separate real traders from commissioners and in collaboration with the ACCI, I want to address the problems of traders. He insisted that talks between the Ministry of Finance and the private sector should address the problems of the country's traders.
He, furthermore, promised to solve the problems of the airlines in a special meeting with the relevant governmental agencies.

Mr Khan Muhammad Sarfaraz Baz talked about the existing corruption, particularly customs, which has been caused a gap between the government and traders. He also said, “We want transparency in trade and customs tariffs and we are ready to cooperate with the Ministry of Finance and the Deputy Minister of Customs in this regard”.

Mr. Shafiqullah Atayee said that ACCI is willingly supporting private-sector-government dialogue to address the problems of the country's traders and assured that ACCI is ready for any kind of cooperation in this regard. He noted the achievements of the government and the private sector in exporting through the air corridor and the problems that have arisen in recent months due to non-payment of subsidies to some airlines, including Kam Air, Ariana, Turkish and Spacegate. The Ministry of Finance has been asked to co-operate in eradicating them.

Mr. Sherin Agha Sakhi insisted the importance of equitable implementation of the law in the country's customs and called for simplification of the process of payment of taxes and government revenue. He promised every kind of cooperation between businessmen and investors in law enforcement.

Some paper importers then expressed their concerns about the 20 percent increase in tariffs on paper imports, stressing that this would lead to a production monopoly by the manufacturing company, a shortage of paper in the market and higher prices.

Ms. Amena Ahmadi said that the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment (ACCI) is a member of Tariff Determination Committee and the increase in customs tariffs on paper is being considered by the Tariff Determination Committee, which is then approved by the government.

Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment (ACCI)'s Acting Chief Executive Officer Mr. Shafiqullah Atayee met with the President of the Precious Stones Association Mr. Aziz Bek and had a discussion about the existing problems implementing exporting procedure of precious stones.

Mr. Aziz Beck mentioned the problems in the exports of precious stones and added that the precious stones export procedure had been finalized three times but was rejected due to the 787 Penal Code recently. He added that one of the major challenges to the export of precious stones is the lack of a legal agreement on the country's mining sector and promised that the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment (ACCI) is committed to coordinate with relevant government agencies to address the problem.

Mr. Atayee said that the ACCI supports the country's standard and technical mining and legal exports of the precious stones. He, furthermore, expressed his concerns over the country's mining exploration and extraction contract awarded to Australia's Fortescue, and said that it has very negative impacts on the country's domestic investment and getting foreign investment.

Mr. Atayee said the ACCI strives to find legal solutions for the existing problems of the exporting precious stones in coordination with all sections of the sector.

Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment (ACCI)'s Fist Deputy to the Board of Directors Mr. Muhammad Younus Muhmand met with the Turkish Ambassador to Afghanistan Mr. Uzhan Urtughrul and had discussion about the expansion of commercial relations, problems of Afghan traders, and joint cooperation.

Mr. Muhmand thanked the Turkish Embassy for inviting him to the Embassy and talked about the expansion of commercial relations especially, the issue of air corridors, facilitating the export of Afghan products to Turkey and to Europe through Turkey and asked the Turkish Embassy for providing the required facilities and coordination in the section of Education. Moreover, he stated visa problems in Paktia, Paktika, Khost, and Loy Nangarhar provinces and asked the Embassy to provide the required facilities and legal solutions to this matter.

Turkey's Ambassador to Afghanistan Mr. Urtughrul, talked about the historical and long-standing relations between Afghanistan and Turkey, and stressed the importance of developing trade and economic ties between the two countries. To eliminate Afghan traders’ problems and response to the suggestions of Mr. Muhmand, he promised to provide all kinds of cooperation.

Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment (ACCI)’s First Deputy to the board of directors Mr. Muhammad Younus Muhmand, Khan Jan Alokozay member of the board of directors, Acting Chief Executive Officer Mr. Shafiqullah Atayee, Financial and Administrative Deputy to the Executive Board Mr. Mirwais Hotak in a meeting with the Kam Airline’s manager Mr. Sulaiman Omar and a number of other airline companies and had a discussion about their existing problems and challenges.

Mr. Suleiman Omar mentioned their services in transporting passengers and air cargo under difficult conditions and criticized the incompetence of the concerned government departments in paying the subsidies. He, furthermore, said that based on the agreement, we will continue transporting commercial goods by air, but unfortunately the government is not paying its dues on time, which has created a lot of problems for airlines.

Airline officials said that if the government does not pay its dues on time, they would not be able to continue carrying commercial goods through air cargo. They asked ACCI to share their problems with the relevant governmental agencies and to help them put an end to their existing problems and challenges.

Mr. Mohmand beside praising the services of Kam Air in the most difficult of circumstances, promised to share their concerns with the officials of the Ministry of Finance's Air Cargo and would try his best to eliminate their problems.

Mr. Atayee besides acknowledging the government's failure to pay on time and called on airlines to continue their services if possible, and the ACCI to take immediate steps to address their concerns.

Mr. Khan Jan Alokozai called the transfer of commercial goods by air corridor an achievement of the Afghan government and called on the relevant governmental agencies to pay the subsidy on time as per the agreement.

ACCI’s Chairman Mr. Tawakal Ahmadyar, ACCI’s First Deputy to the board of directors Mr. Haji Muhammad Younus Muhmand, ACCI’s Commercial Deputy to the board of the directors Mr. Khairuddin Mael Ahmadi, head of the secretariat to the board of directors Khan Muhammad Sarfaraz Baz, head of the international relations of the board of directors Sayed Jawid Burhan, head of the finance of the board of directors Mr. Sherin Agha Sakhi, and Acting Chief Executive Officer Mr. Shafiqullah Atayee attended the fourteenth meeting of the Executive Committee and took decisions about important issues.

The items of the agenda were presented by Mr. Baz to the participants and after a detailed discussion on the structure of the ACCI, budget, land of Badakhshan Provincial Chamber, the law of the chambers and the existing problems and challenges of the chamber and other suggestions of the Executive and Director Board necessary decisions were made.