Afghan-India air corridor: Amid delays, Ghani asks to execute more flights

Amid reports of delay in the newly-launched Afghanistan-India air corridor initiative, Afghanistan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has instructed the relevant authority to take immediate step to execute more flights as part of the initiative.

Deputy Chief of the chamber of commerce and industries Khan Jan Alokozay has briefed the meeting, chaired by the Afghan President regarding the issues being faced to execute more flights.

Following the meeting, according to the Khaama Press, Ghani has instructed the authorities to negotiate Kam Air for fixing flight schedules for exports.

The Afghan President further instructed to make proper arrangements to prepare 80 to 100 tons of fresh fruits on time for export.

As per reports, he also instructed the Ministry of Finance and Customs House officials to provide necessary facilities for the entire process as part of the air corridor initiative.

The decision to establish an Air Freight Corridor between Afghanistan and India was taken in the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ghani in September 2016 during the latter's visit to India.

During his visit to India in September 2016, President Ghani had urged Indian and Afghan businessmen to achieve a target of USD 10 billion in trade over the next five years.

Earlier, in January 2015, India had announced its decision to allow Afghan Trucks to enter the Indian Territory through Atari land check post for offloading and loading goods from and to Afghanistan. India is also cooperating with Afghanistan and Iran for development of the Chabahar Port.

Later on in May 2016, a trilateral transport and transit agreement based on sea access through Chabahar was signed in the presence of the leaders of the three countries in Tehran.

Major imports from Afghanistan to India are fresh fruits, dried fruits, nuts, raisins, vegetables, oil seeds, precious and semi-precious stones, etc.