ABU DHABI, March 7, 2021 (WAM) – Afghanistan has requested support from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the digitization of its logistics infrastructure, which will help the country facilitate regional trade to achieve economic growth and become a bridge between South and Central Asia and the Arabian Gulf, said Javid Ahmad, the Afghan ambassador to the United Arab Emirates.
In an interview with the Emirates News Agency (WAM), the senior Afghan diplomat said: “We have a planned large-scale digitization program with the United Arab Emirates, which would involve the digitization of our business infrastructure and logistics”.
Afghanistan is in talks with a company in the United Arab Emirates to review the schematics of the country’s dry ports and customs ports to see how they might incorporate customs revenue collection, he said without revealing the name of the country. the UAE company because the talks are not concluded at the moment.
Improving regional connectivity “This is very important to us, as an estimated 46% of our government revenue comes from customs, but the current system allows some loopholes for leakage, waste and misallocation,” Ahmed said.
“The digitized logistics infrastructure will strengthen Afghanistan’s regional connectivity,” he said.
“We believe that if we want Afghanistan to be the land bridge between South Asia and Central Asia, regional connectivity is important, especially as part of our own economic growth plan,” he said. ‘Afghan envoy.
Afghanistan wants to expand its connectivity beyond South and Central Asia to the Arabian Gulf, in particular the United Arab Emirates, through the Qasim port in Karachi, Pakistan and the Chabahar port in the southeast of Iran, he explained.
Digitalization of the communication infrastructure “We need to reorganize the logistics and we have engaged with the UAE company to see if it could come and study to reform and completely restructure it, which would also include the transfer of technology,” revealed Mr. Ahmed.
In another aspect of the cooperation in the field of digitization, he added: “We realize that the future is digital and we are working to create a unified communication infrastructure network at all levels, especially for our main government institutions. This includes significant technological support, for example on data integration systems. We are working with the UAE on this and this is a flagship project. ”
Agriculture, aviation at the top of the economic agenda The Ambassador also revealed that efforts are underway to establish a joint UAE-Afghan Business Council.
On the bilateral economic agenda, the agriculture and aviation sectors are a top priority, he said.
The aviation sector is important “especially because the UAE’s three-company consortium already manages four of our international airports. So now we are looking to see how in the aviation sector the UAE’s engagement could step up to include, for example, the construction of a passenger terminal, the construction of a freight terminal, as well as the creation of a logistics and food processing zone, ”the envoy explained.
Students build cultural bridge “About 5,052 Afghan students, mostly children of long-time expatriates living here and others who came here on scholarships funded by the United Arab Emirates, are educated in the seven emirates “, he noted.
“Most of these UAE students are returning to Afghanistan and making a significant contribution to the country’s development and reconstruction efforts,” Ahmed said.
“This is part of our bilateral education program and we are grateful to the UAE for providing this opportunity to our students at UAE schools and universities.”
“These students, from the preliminary to master’s level and a handful of doctoral students (56 of them are UAE government scholars), are best placed to build cultural bridges between the two countries as they study in government institutions. with the Emiratis and other Arab expatriates “, explained the envoy.
Security Partnership It is known that many other expatriate communities in the UAE, especially Asians, have higher numbers of students, but most of them study in their own community schools.
The number of Afghan students is likely to increase “as we engage more with our partners in the United Arab Emirates in new areas, including in technical sectors such as artificial intelligence (AI), IT, finance , accounting and hotel management, “noted the envoy.
“As the bilateral security partnership deepens, more Afghan students will come to study in UAE diplomatic and security academies and they may be better prepared to face modern challenges,” he reiterated.
More than 120,000 community members “The Afghan expatriate community in the UAE helps build people-to-people relationships. As of December 2020, the official number of the Afghan community in the UAE was estimated at 120,000,” revealed Mr. Ahmed.
“The businessmen among them are mainly engaged in the construction, real estate, aviation and food and agriculture sectors,” the ambassador said.
Translated by: Mervat Mahmoud.
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