Meeting of the Economic Commission Convened

KABUL, Jan. 04 – A meeting of the Economic Commission of the IEA took place in Marmarin Palace under the leadership of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar Akhund, today, said office of the deputy PM for economic affairs.

During the meeting, a variety of topics were covered. The development of the Shahi Canal in the province of Laghman was among the initial subjects covered at the meeting,as stated by the agenda. In this context, it was determined that the committee chosen for the Zamindawar project,but this time under the direction of the Ministry of Water and Energy, would examine the Laghman Shahi Canal from a technical and financial perspective and report its findings to the Economic Commission.

It was then determined that in each port of Afghanistan, including the provinces of Kandahar, Nangarhar, Herat,and Balkh, would have a complex for testing food, medicine, and other goods, and that each related organization would set up its labs in these complexes.

The construction and operations of these complexes should be awarded to private companies in public private partnership contracts. Until the opening of the testing complexes,the food and drug test shall be carried out by the Food and Drug Administration as before. In the other part of the meeting, after a comprehensive discussion, it was decided that the laboratories of the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock should be taken into account while building complexes in ports.

Similarly, the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock should consider the decisions of the Plant Quarantine and Health Protection Committee and present its views to the Economic Commission. Subsequently, regarding the country’s natural resources, discussions were held on the plan to expand the production of medicines and it was decided that Ibni Sina state-owned pharmaceutical company should share its plan with the Ministry of Finance who will afterwards share it with state banks and receive financial support from one of the banks in accordance with the principles of Islamic banking.

The meeting also covered the agreements reached by the Ministry of Water and Energy with a Chinese company for the development of a 300 megawatt gas power plant in the province of Jowzjan and the deal with a Turkish company for the expansion of the 2nd Surobi Dam. It was decided during the discussion that the subject of agreements with the companies was confirmed. The Ministry of Mines and Petroleum should ensure the adequacy of gas reserves in Jowzjan province.

After completing the mentioned affairs, the Ministry of Water and Energy should submit the contracts of the mentioned companies to the Economic Commission for approval. Subsequently, a delegation led by the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock was tasked with visiting the Boostan Sabz factory closely and sharing its report with the Economic Commission. At the end of the meeting, the issue of establishing the National Economic Consultative Board of Afghanistan was discussed. It was decided that the NECBA was confirmed.

The plan to establish the board should be shared with the ministries and related agencies and they should communicate their views on the plan to the Secretariat of the Economic Commission.