Press release of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in connection with the increase of exports Via Air Corridors

August, 10, 2020

Ensuing the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, countries around the world took crucial precautionary measures to avert its spread, which brought trade and transit relations between countries to their lowest level in decades; Afghanistan was no exclusion.

Afghanistan's trade relations with the countries reached their lowest level during the April and May months, realizing that COVID-19 pandemic is an unescapable and potentially time-consuming phenomenon, the government took the initiative and, in close cooperation with the private sector, paved the ground for a resumption of trade and transit with countries in the region and the world.

Providentially, while the normalization of trade and transit via land between Afghanistan and the world has progressed well, new statistics show that Afghanistan's exports through the air corridors in the first seven months of the year compared to the same period of last year, shows increase by 29 percent and its value has increased by 17%. Exports via the air corridors with India and the United Arab Emirates have resumed to normal and are expected to recommence with the other countries soon.

As shown in the chart below, the export season traditionally begins in the second half of the fiscal year and reaches its peak by the end of the year.