War-torn nation joins WTO

KABUL: Afghanistan has won formal approval to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in a move the US-backed government hopes will help lift its warshattered economy and create jobs in one of the world’s poorest countries.

Afghanistan has until June 30 to ratify the agreement, the final step before becoming a full member of the organisation that underpins the global system of international trade.

“Trade-led growth will create new economic opportunities and jobs, especially for women. It will reduce poverty and increase prosperity,” said Afghanistan’s Deputy Chief Executive Mohammad Khan Rahmani.

“It will certainly contribute in a major way to dramatically reduce extremism and achieve regional peace and security,” he added. Along with the Tapi gas pipeline deal linking Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, the WTO approval is a major step forward for one of the world’s least developed economies.

Decades of war have destroyed much of Afghanistan’s basic infrastructure and fostered a climate of insecurity and corruption that has put investors to flight and forced millions of Afghans to become refugees.

Once a major horticultural exporter for 10% of the world’s dried fruit market in the 1970s, Afghanistan’s import-dependent economy is now kept afloat by foreign aid.

The World Bank’s 2015 “Doing Business” report ranks it at 183 out of 189 countries and growth last year was just 1.3% — far too slow to provide enough jobs for its fastgrowing population. Aid donors are putting much effort into re-establishing the agricultural sector and developing products such as almonds, raisins and pistachios as well as traditional export pillars such as woollen carpets.