Reuters: Regional trade conference underway in Afghanistan

Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:26am BST
By Sayed Salahuddin

HERAT, Afghanistan, Oct 17 (Reuters) – A regional conference on trade among nations in the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) began on Wednesday in Afghanistan, the first such major gathering to be held for decades in the war-torn country.

Iran, Turkey and Pakistan are the founding members of the organisation, which was set up in 1985 and now includes seven other regional nations, Afghanistan among them.

In addition to investment, transit facilitation and trade, officials from the group are also expected to discuss exploration and export of gas and oil, said an Afghan official.

ECO member Turkmenistan for years has been keen to export its gas to Pakistan and beyond through Afghanistan, but the multi-billion dollar project has been held up due to insecurity in the country.

Afghanistan has been facing a resurgent Taliban-led insurgency.

Lying on the old Silk Road, Afghanistan serves as a bridge between some ECO member countries and has rich copper and iron reserves and some precious stones.

It is also a consumer market for products of some of the regional countries and its annual trade with them reaches to some $4 billion since the Taliban’s ouster in 2001, according to Afghan government estimates.

Since the Taliban’s overthrow, the country has not seen any major foreign and local investment, largely due to lack of infrastructure, rampant corruption and the increased insurgency in the past two years.

As part of a move to encourage local traders, the Afghan government recently abolished taxes on exports of goods from the country.

The four-day trade conference is being held in the western city of Herat, regarded as one of the safest areas of the country, which has largely prospered since the removal of the Taliban government.

Security was tight across the city on Wednesday. President Hamid Karzai, who has escaped a series of assassination attempts by suspected Taliban members, is expected to address the conference, Afghan officials said.

In addition to Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, the ECO also includes Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

RIA Novosti: Russian businessman reportedly kidnapped, released in Herat

17/10/2007

MOSCOW, October 17 (RIA Novosti) – German Sterligov, a Russian businessman arrested by security forces in Afghanistan where he was buying rams for his farm, has been released, he said on Wednesday.

A friend of Sterligov earlier claimed the businessman was being held hostage.

“Local special service officers arrested me two days ago,” Sterligov said, speaking by phone from Herat airport in the western part of the war-torn mountainous country. He said officers have returned his mobile phone and documents, and he is hoping to fly to Kabul soon.

“Although we were held at gunpoint with automatic rifles, we were treated cordially, and politely,” he said, adding that “Russians are generally treated well here.”

While on the road, the only problems the group encountered were when U.S. troops stopped them, and carried out numerous checks.

Sterligov said he and the group he was travelling with had planned to buy two stud rams, and to take photos for the press. He was detained while moving towards the Iranian border along with two fellow travelers and two Afghan guides. He said they “did manage to purchase the rams.”

The businessman said if he does not manage to catch a flight to Kabul, he will “don local-style clothing and make his way via mountain paths.”

Vladimir Samoilov, a spokesman for Russian truck-producing company KamAZ, said earlier that his close friend Sterligov was in the hands of Afghan General Mohammed Fahim, a prominent Afghan military commander, and a former defense minister.

Sterligov was one of the first Russian millionaires in the early 1990s. Prior to opting for reclusive lifestyle in the country, he had several businesses. He previously intended to run for the presidential elections in Russia, but was denied registration. The businessman also gained notoriety for his PR campaign during the U.S. invasion in Iraq, offering “comfy” coffins for U.S. soldiers.