HERAT, Jun 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Peace and security in Afghanistan’s western Herat city has facilitated investors to pour their capital into more than 300 plants.
In the industrial park of the western Herat province, more than 300 factories and plants are operational, to produce a variety of items ranging from food stuff to detergent and construction materials.
Three more plants with 10 million U.S. dollars investment were inaugurated recently in Herat, to create more job opportunities for the locals here.
“Investment on one hand provides job opportunities, and on the other hand, speaks of investors’ trust and economic development of the country,” Minister of Industries and Commerce, Nisar Ahmad Faizi Ghoryani, said.
Ghoryani called on investors to invest in the country, assuring that the government would continue to support private sector and investment in each field.
Presently, around 14,000 people, 30 percent of them women, have been working in more than 300 plants in Herat, head of Herat’s Industrialists Association, Hamidullah Khadim, said.
Khadim also noted that the newly opened three factories have hired more than 500 workers.
“The newly inaugurated plants produce milk, yogurt, cheese, ice cream and cookies,” Khadim said.
Describing unemployment and poverty as the main source of social problems, Khadim observed that, a militant group could easily recruit jobless and poor people to fight the establishment.
“Investment in any field, to increase local products and create job opportunities, alleviates poverty, as many people hired in the plants earn livelihood at this critical stage, when militancy and fighting continue in parts of the country,” Khadim said.
The western Herat province, with Herat city as its capital, 640 km west of Kabul, has been regarded as a peaceful province in the militancy-battered Afghanistan.
Jalil Ahmad Faizy, a businessman who runs an ice cream factory, said that, his company, besides producing ice cream also began producing cheese and would further develop its products.
“More than 250 people, about half of them women, are working in my firm that produces ice cream, cheese, yogurt and supplies its products across Afghanistan,” Faizy said.
Expressing confidence in the Afghan forces in ensuring security, Faizy said, the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces from Afghanistan won’t affect the investment process, calling on all domestic and foreign firms to invest in Afghanistan.
Sumira Ahmadi, an ice cream company worker, said, “More investment in Herat means creating more jobs which is tantamount to alleviating poverty.”– NNN-AGENCIES
