Xinhua
07/30/2003
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KABUL - Afghanistan's first trade firm specializing in marketing imported Chinese products opened here on Tuesday, as Afghan commerce and security officials promised to protect foreign investment in the country.

China Merchandise Trade Center Ltd., a wholly Chinese-invested company with a registered capital of 1.2 million US dollars, will mainly market construction materials, inner decoration items, furniture and daily commodities in the Afghan market, general manager Wan Wentian said.

Chinese Ambassador to Afghanistan Sun Yuxi, Kabul Police Chief Basil Salangi and senior officials from the Afghan Commerce Ministry were present at the inaugural ceremony at the company office located in the west part of the capital city.

The company, launched jointly by some Chinese private investors, is going to introduce some 1,000 items of cost-effective Chinese products to Afghanistan, which is undergoing the reconstruction process after 23 years of war, said Wan Wentian.

Demands for Chinese-made products and goods in the local market are huge as Afghan businessmen and people favor Chinese items at affordable prices to those from other countries, he added.

The Afghan government welcomes foreign private investments in the country and encourages free market competition, an official from the Commerce Ministry told Xinhua.

''The opening of China Merchandise Trade Center shows that investors from our neighbor countries are confident of Afghanistan ' s future development,'' Kabul Police chief Salangi said in his speech.

''I promised that security authorities in the capital city will try their best to protect Chinese businessmen and their investments here,'' he said.

The new company's display room attracted hundreds of Afghan businessmen, many of them having been doing business in Chinese products for years.

''It is helpful that there is such a trade firm in Afghanistan, because now we can directly buy wholesale Chinese goods here,'' said Mohammad Ayob, an Afghan businessman who has been traveling to and back from China for importing goods for seven years. "Today's opening of the trade center is a new beginning of the age-old commercial relations between China and Afghanistan, which could trace back to the ancient Silk Route in history,'' the businessman said.

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