Second air cargo flight from Afghanistan to arrive in India tomorrow

The second air cargo flight carrying 10 MTs of fresh fruits and 30 MTs of vegetable and medicinal plants from Kandahar, Afghanistan will arrive in New Delhi on June 24, 2017.

Direct air cargo link between Afghanistan and India was established with the inaugural flight landed in Delhi on June 19, 2017, which carried 60 MTs of Hing (asafetida). Similarly, air cargo flight from Delhi to Kabul transported 100 MTs of goods, mainly pharmaceuticals and medical equipment.

The Afghanistan-India Air Freight Corridor was inaugurated by President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani on June 19 in Kabul. The inaugural flight was received at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) by Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in the presence of Civil Aviation Minister Ganapati Raju, Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar and Afghan Ambassador to India Dr. Shaida Mohammad Abdali.

The idea of creating air freight corridor first put forward by President Ghani during his meeting with Prime Minister Modi in September last year. The two leaders reached final agreement to set up air cargo service between the two countries when they met in Amritsar later in December.

The Afghanistan-India Air Freight Corridor aims to enhance the annual volume of bilateral trade between the two countries which presently stands at around 700 million US dollars.