Afghan Taliban sign deal for Russian oil products, gas & wheat
Taliban has signed a provisional deal with Russia that will allow Moscow to supply gasoline, diesel, gas and wheat to Afghanistan, Acting Afghan Commerce and Industry Minister Haji Nooruddin Azizi has told about it to the news sources.
Azizi said on Tuesday his ministry was working to diversify its trading partners and that Russia has offered the Taliban administration a discount on average global commodity prices.
Azizi said the deal would involve Russia supplying around one million tonnes of gasoline, one million tonnes of diesel, 500,000 tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas and two million tonnes of wheat annually. Azizi said the agreement would run for an unspecified trial period, after which both sides were expected to sign a longer-term deal if they were content with the arrangement.
The deal was finalised after an Afghan technical team spent several weeks in discussions in Moscow, having stayed on after Azizi visited there last month.
Afghan Taliban sign deal for Russian oil products, gas & wheat
The move, the first known major international economic deal struck by the Taliban since it returned to power more than a year ago, could help to ease the isolation that has effectively cut it off from the global banking system.
