Afghan pavilion major draw at international trade fair

When it comes to conducting business, the Afghans have never taken into account the factor of geographical distance. Every year they travel to India to take part in the India International Trade Fair (IITF), where they attract innumerable customers.

"We come here every year with handicraft jewellery, clothes and semi-precious stone studded silver jewellery. We have huge demand of these items in India. Indians love our hand-crafted jewellery. They like our earrings, lockets, necklace, rings and Afghani clothes," Nilofar, who travelled to India along with her aunt to participate in the fair here, told IANS.

Nilofar's aunt has been taking part in the IITF for the last 10 years.

This year the Afghanistan pavilion has 26 stalls and the most sought after are the ones catering to dry fruits and carpets.

But it is hard to miss the dazzling lapis lazuli stone jewellery in the pavilion.

"This is my second year in India. We get good customers in this fair. There is big demand for lapis lazuli jewellery in India," Wahid, a jewellery merchant, told IANS.

Afghan clothes and jewellery prices price range between Rs.500-Rs.4,000 and Rs.200 to Rs.5,000 respectively.

The 34th edition of the IITF is expected to attract nearly two million visitors from around the world. Considered to be the one of the biggest industry trade fairs in the world, it will bring together 6,500 exhibitors from India and abroad. Nov 14-18 has been earmarked as days reserved for business visitors, while it will be open to the public from Nov 19-27.

As always, dry fruits are a must buy from the Afghanistan pavilion. "We have dry fruits ranging from almonds, black raisins, walnuts, dry apricot, figs, pine nuts, red raisins to pistachios," Nasrat Zaki, a dry fruits seller, told IANS.

Though a lot of people throng the carpet stalls they seldom buy as the exquisite pieces are usually priced on the higher side.

"A lot of people come but not many of them buy. We have selective customers," Abdul Quddus, a carpet seller, told IANS.

The prices of carpets varies between Rs.3,000-100,000.