Afghanistan wants to import Russian crude oil and goods and return them in minerals, grapes and medicinal herbs - Minister of Industry and Trade Nuriddin Azizi told RIA Novosti on August 19.
We can provide some of our minerals in exchange for imports from Russia, including energy and other products. In addition, we can exchange dried fruits, grapes and medicinal herbs, said Nuriddin.
The minister pointed out that Afghanistan has historically supplied a large amount of dry grapes to Russia. "We can provide hundreds of tons of such products. For example, the current price of medicinal herbs is very high and Russia needs such raw materials to make drugs. We can use them to exchange goods. We can provide raw materials to Russian factories, as we have done to China, the minister explained.
Earlier this week, Nuriddin said Afghanistan wanted to buy 1 million or more barrels of Russian crude, noting that the government wanted to consider exchanging goods.
Afghanistan's proposal may be due to domestic monetary scarcity. After Taliban took over the country in August 222, the United States blocked $ 7 billion in the foreign exchange reserve of the Central Bank Afghanistan stored at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The other $ 2 billion was frozen by England, Germany, UAE and some other countries.
In May, Afghanistan's interim Ambassador to Russia Jamal Nasir Garwal spoke about a plan to negotiate with Moscow on Russian oil supplies. The diplomat stressed that the country is seeking to develop economic cooperation with Russia and is negotiating business and financial development.
Data from the global trade website The Observatory of Economic Complexity shows that Russia's exports to Afghanistan reached 151 million USD in 2020 and imports under 3 million USD.
