Have there been any developments in the bilateral relations of two countries after President Ashraf Ghani’s visit to India?

Definitely. Regardless of the Government or the leadership Afghanistan’s relationship with India is set strong. It only unfolds in an extensive way with the passage of time. Both countries have continuity in relationship with new count rather trying to promote it further. When the President was here he concentrated more on economic aspect of the relationship because the economy matters in terms of our joint goal that we are pursuing for people’s prosperity, development and stability. All of this depends on wellbeing of the people; if they prosper that will definitely have an effect on all the other aspects as well. So, the President’s visit was a very successful one, he discussed issue that I have earlier referred to like connectivity, business and APTTA. The visit was also because the two countries have a strong desire to further expand the relationship. I had proposed to President that we should open some other representative offices to further promote trade which included Consulate General in Hyderabad and an honorary consul’s office in Kolkata. I am glad that he sent a team to assess the feasibility in the context and the idea will soon be realized. I am also thinking of appointing a Commercial Attaché in Amritsar which is the connecting point, so that we have our representation there. This is because if in case any issue related economic or commercial activities arises in Amritsar, he/she would be on the spot to resolve and address the issue. Also, to promote visits of the businessmen from India, Afghanistan is considering extending Multiple Entry Visa for Indian businessmen on long term basis. So, we are constantly working on expansion of our ties with India.

What are the tourism opportunities in Afghanistan that you can let our readers know about?

Afghanistan used to have one of the highest revenues long time back in the 60’s and 70’s from the tourism sector. It is a beautiful country but we have to work together towards the promotion of the tourism industry in the two countries. We need to see how Afghanistan and India can work together on the tourism sector so that people of our country visit Indian and vice versa and also attract tourists from rest of the world. There are so many shared cultural and historical sites that we have in our two countries and we have a co-relationship with one another. So, because of the shared history and values we have to work together for mutual benefits in the promotion of tourism sector of our two countries. So, tourism sector is one of the focused areas of Afghanistan but we hope that there would be conducive and secured environment in order to attract tourists from all over the world.