TEHRAN – Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani invited the Iranian private sector to invest in Afghanistan’s manufacturing sector.

In a meeting with Iranian and Afghan businessmen in Tehran, Ghani urged Iranian investors to establish factories and industrial units in Afghanistan, the IRNA news agency reported on Monday.

He welcomed the development of transit infrastructures in Iran’s strategic port of Chabahar, saying that the port plays a vital role in the economic stability of Afghanistan.

He voiced his country’s willingness to expand trade and investment ties with Iran.

He also welcomed the idea of establishing a joint chamber of commerce in a bid to facilitate the bilateral trade.

Afghanistan was the fifth leading importer of Iranian non-oil goods in the previous Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20, 2014, according to the Iran Customs Administration.
 
Iran exported $2.38 billion of non-oil goods to Afghanistan and imported $14.49 million of non-oil goods from the country.