Afghanistan Business Dialogue
Remarks by Ambassador Said T. Jawad
Embassy of Afghanistan
10/05/2004
Ladies and Gentleman:
I welcome you to the first seminar of the Afghanistan Business
Dialogue, an initiative of the Embassy of Afghanistan, Afghan-American
Chamber of Commerce and Afghan International Chamber of Commerce.
The Dialogue will include at least one event each month, focusing
on areas and topics of interest to companies who want to do
invest or do business in Afghanistan.
The Embassy of Afghanistan hopes that this dialogue will help
facilitate the sharing of information and ideas and will help
build a strong coalition of U.S. companies interested in Afghanistan.
After years of conflict and isolation, Afghanistan has re-entered
the global marketplace and is quickly becoming reintegrated.
The eagerness of the international community and the efforts
of the Government of Afghanistan to bring economic stability
to the country is the foundation for successful business development.
The Afghan government believes that the private sector is the
engine for growth in Afghanistan. Reform efforts are focusing
on removing obstacles to private sector development.
The Government’s goal is for Afghanistan to become a service
center and hub for trade and transit for the region. We are
looking to reform more quickly than our neighbors in order to
provide a competitive and enabling environment for investment
and trade.
With the assistance of the World Bank, the Government
of Afghanistan is working on decreasing transit and customs
times to facilitate trade.
The Afghan government has also taken the leadership to create
three new industrial parks with the assistance of USAID. Not
only did the Government offer land, but also invested its own
money into the project. These parks offer investors a location
where water, power, roads and sewage are available.
One of the challenging areas for Afghanistan has been access
to capital. The Afghan government has identified this issue
as a priority and has been working with national institutions,
donors and NGOs to identify solutions. After years of having
no commercial banking sector or venture capital, it is an amazing
accomplishment that banking services are now available, loans
and insurance are available for investments, and venture capital
funds are beginning to focus on the opportunities in Afghanistan.
The Government of Afghanistan has been pleased to work with
the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. OPIC was one of
the first foreign institutions to offer financing for projects
in Afghanistan. After initially announcing a $50 million line
of credit for Afghanistan, the CEO of OPIC, Dr. Peter Watson,
announced the increase to $100 million. OPIC also offers political
risk insurance, which protects an investor who is covered from
acts of war, political change and even terrorism.
Another positive development was that in April of this year,
the Government of Afghanistan and the Government of the United
States entered into a new bilateral Investment Incentive Agreement.
This agreement provides the legal mechanism whereby OPIC can
provide financing and insurance for projects in Afghanistan.
The original agreement between our countries dated back to 1958
and needed to be updated to reflect today’s changes in
the financial sector. I am happy to announce that the former
requirement of obtaining a “foreign government authorization,”
which meant that investors had to receive approval for their
OPIC-financed project from our Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
has been abolished. This is another example of the Afghan government’s
commitment to reduce bureaucracy.
Ladies and gentleman, there are many lucrative
opportunities in Afghanistan just waiting for investment and
those companies that take advantage of programs that exist are
well-poised to benefit.
We are pleased that colleagues from OPIC have taken the time
to participate in today’s event to give you a better understanding
of their programs and the application process.
Our Commercial and Trade Counsel, Mrs. Mariam Nawabi, will be
working with AACC and AICC to organize more events like this
one. We hope that you will find today’s program informative
and useful. Thank you.
I wish you, OPIC, AACC and AICC further
success.
