The "Sky Corridor" reopens! 45 tons of Afghan pine nuts arrived in Shanghai, foreign media: This is the first indicator of China's efforts to help Afghanistan's recovery

Source: Global Times

On the evening of November 1, 45 tons of pine nuts from Afghanistan arrived at Shanghai's Pudong Airport. This is the first time afghanistan has exported pine nuts to China since the Taliban took over state power in Afghanistan in August. "China began to trade with the Taliban" attracted international media attention. The British "Times" said on the 1st: "The first indicator of China's efforts to help Afghanistan's rejuvenation is pine nuts." Voice of America said China had restarted direct air trade ties with Afghanistan to help the war-torn neighbor cope with the deepening economic and humanitarian crisis.

According to the Afghan Dawn TELEVISION station, on October 31, local time, the first batch of 45 tons of pine nuts this year departed from Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, and chartered a flight to Shanghai. Acting Deputy Prime Minister Hanafi and other interim government officials held a simple ribbon-cutting ceremony at Kabul Airport, and Chinese Ambassador to Afghanistan Wang Yu also participated in the send-off and jointly opened the "Pine Nuts Air Corridor". The flight was operated by Afghan Qam Airlines.

After the event, Wang Yu said via Twitter that although international freight in Afghanistan is still restricted, China and Argentina have overcome various difficulties and completed the export of goods. "The little pine nuts have brought happiness to the Afghan people and delicious food to the Chinese people, and the 'Pine Nuts Sky Corridor' is an important link in the friendship between our two countries." Wang Yu said the "Pine Nuts Air Corridor" project will continue to operate in the coming months and is expected to transport tens of thousands of tons of pine nuts into China, bringing hundreds of millions of dollars in income to Afghan farmers. He said that China is concerned about the livelihood of the Afghan people, and in addition to providing humanitarian assistance, China hopes to help the two peoples achieve a win-win situation in more ways. On October 25 and 26 this year, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Acting Deputy Prime Minister Baradal and Acting Foreign Minister Mottaki of Afghanistan during his visit to Qatar. During this meeting, the "Matsuko Skywalk" plan was finally confirmed. According to a video released by a Taliban spokesman, Mutaki presented Wang Yi with a pine nut as a gift.

"VOICE OF AMERICA" quoted Bilal Karimi, spokesman for the Taliban Provisional Government, as saying on the 1st that the export of pine nuts is the result of the recent extensive and good discussions between Kabul and Beijing, and it is expected that progress will be made in other areas of bilateral trade in the next few days.

According to the data of the former Afghan government, the annual output of Afghan pine nuts is about 23,000 tons, the main production area is some of the northeastern provinces of the country at an average altitude of about 1,000 meters below the snow line in the mountainous areas, ripe in September-October every year, is one of the main cash crops in Afghanistan, and the export income can reach 800 million US dollars per year. In the Chinese market, Afghan pine nuts are often referred to as "Brazilian pine nuts", which is short for "pine nuts in western Pakistan", in fact, many of them are purchased from Afghanistan and then packaged from Pakistan to China. In 2018, the first batch of Afghan pine nuts were exported directly to China in the form of charter flights, and this "pine nut air corridor" is actually a restoration of the previous project.

Pine nuts are the main cash crop for Afghan exports to China, as well as an important source of finance for Afghan farmers and local governments. Wang Yu, China's ambassador to Afghanistan, said in an interview last year that Afghan pine nuts are of good quality and low price, but they have previously suffered from the lack of bilateral cooperation agreements and have no way to sell to China. In order to help the Afghan people turn pine nuts into "gold", China and Argentina have close communication, and relevant departments have gone all out to strengthen coordination, and finally signed an agreement on the export of pine nuts to China in June 2018. China has been working hard to trade with Afghanistan in specialty agricultural products, and in 2016, the two countries reached an agreement on the export of saffron to China. In addition, according to the previous research of the Chinese Embassy in Afghanistan, the pomegranates produced in Afghanistan also have the potential to be exported to the Chinese market.

Turkey's Anadolu News Agency said on the 1st that with the consolidation of the power of the Taliban provisional government, the production and operation of enterprises have gradually restarted. Afghan exports to Pakistan have risen steadily, and Pakistan has also eliminated taxes on some Afghan products.

Shakil Lamai, director of the China Research Center of the Pakistan Institute of Sustainable Development Policy, told the Global Times reporter on the 1st that Afghanistan, as a land-locked country, directly relies on air freight for foreign exports, so the main output products are handmade carpets, pine nuts and other high-value goods per unit weight. These exports can effectively address the daily livelihoods of farmers and craftsmen in Afghanistan. Lamai said that as the domestic political situation in Afghanistan tends to stabilize, humanitarian assistance and trade exchanges from international organizations and countries around the world are gradually resuming, which is undoubtedly good news for the Afghan people.