The board of the Business Council for Cooperation with Afghanistan, BCCA, met at the head office of the Moscow Industrial Bank on the 30th of March.
 
The administration of the Business Council told the information portal “Afghanistan.Ru” that among the participants of the meeting were officials from several government departments and commercial and public organizations, including the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia, Foreign Ministry, Federal Drug Control Service, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the Centre for Studying Contemporary Afghanistan. The executives of several major companies of Russia also attended the meeting.

Opening the meeting, the chairman of the Business Council for Cooperation with Afghanistan, Abubakar Arsamakov said that our efforts made together with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry had been gaining momentum.

The executive director of the council, Anatoly Fomchinkov presented the main report to the meeting. He also informed the gathering about the outcome of meetings of the heads of the BCCA with the representatives of Russian and Afghan public organizations and business structures. A key element in the work of the Russian-Afghan Business Council was the establishment of contacts with the mission led by the US President’s special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, who visited Moscow early this year.

The gathering discussed the preparations for the visit to Afghanistan of the delegation of the Business Council for Cooperation with Afghanistan and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the RF. The delegation is expected to visit Afghanistan in the first half of the year. The gathering believes that it will be expedient to include officials from several government departments interested in.

The meeting also discussed the situation of trade and economic relations between the RF and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. It supported expanding contacts with the executives of Afghan business circles.

The members of the board of the Business Council and officials of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry also discussed the draft intergovernmental agreement on economic cooperation between Russia and Afghanistan. According to the participants, at present, the absence of an agreement is a barrier on the way to promote trade and economic relations between Moscow and Kabul.