New Delhi, Jan 31 (KNN)  Builders from Afghanistan have evinced keen interest in collaborating and forging joint ventures with Indian companies for executing projects in Afghanistan in housing, road construction, schools and hospitals.
 
“They have shown interest to source all kinds of building materials and building equipments/machinery,” said a FICCI press release.
 
“Such collaboration is bound to receive a fillip as the Government of India is in the final stages of preparing a draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) under which India will help Afghanistan develop roads and highways and formulate a road transport policy and share its knowledge in transportation technologies,” it said.
 
Indo-Afghan trade has grown to USD 632.18 million in 2012-13 and the flow of goods has been strengthened by a Preferential Trade Agreement signed in 2003, and further enlarged by the Strategic Partnership Agreement signed in 2011.
 
Thus far, India has carried out several construction and infrastructure projects in Afghanistan, including building of Afghanistan’s Parliament.
 
To further deepen the economic engagement between India and Afghanistan, FICCI in collaboration with the Financial Access for Investing in the Development of Afghanistan (FAIDA) Department of U.S. Agency for International Aid (USAID) and Indian Embassy, Kabul, organized interactive business meetings with Afghanistan Builders Delegation here today.
 
‘Afghanistan-India Construction Sector’, Business to Business (B2B) Matchmaking Event was organized under the aegis of the Trade Commerce and Investment Opportunities Confidence Building Measure (TCI CBM) envisaged under the Heart of Asia Process for Afghanistan.
 
The high profile 35-member Afghan delegation was being led by Afghanistan Builders Association (ABA), which is one of the largest construction associations in Afghanistan with offices in Kabul, Jalalabad, Kandahar, Mazar‐e‐Sharif, Herat and Gardez, with over 500 members from engineering construction companies.
 
Speaking on the occasion, President, ABA, Naeem Yassin said that the delegation’s aim was to connect Afghan and Indian construction firms doing business in Afghanistan, facilitate joint venture opportunities in Afghanistan construction projects, share opportunities in construction material manufacturing in Afghanistan and import from India, investment opportunities in construction sector of Afghanistan and urban housing development opportunities in Afghanistan.
 
He said that ABA facilitates international investors and companies to work in Afghanistan in different construction fields. However, it also connects and provides J/V opportunities with qualified Afghan companies.
 
Offering his views Vice President- SAARC and Myanmar, KEC, Pankaj Tandon, highlighted some of the challenges Afghanistan faces – considering that it is a landlocked country with difficult logistics across borders and perceptual security threat leading to difficulty in attracting talent. 
 
He also said that evolving institutions need to be aligned to global business needs and high cultural sensitivity.   (KNN/ES)