Afghans exhort India to invest in carpets

Afghan investors who will attend the India-Afghanistan Trade and Investment Show in Delhi in September say they will urge Indian businessmen to invest in their carpet industry with the help of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Indian Government, which, they want, should establish a free market for Afghan carpets in India.

Carpet production in Afghanistan has dropped drastically in the last few years from two million cubic meters in 2010 to 40,000 cm3 in 2017 and statistics show at least 75 percent of carpet weavers have left their profession.

Afghan investors said 90 per cent of Afghanistan?s carpets are being sent to international markets under the name of Pakistan, thereby benefiting Pakistan. ?We will increase our products if USAID rents a free zone for Afghan carpets in New Delhi or other cities in India,? said Haji Nabi, head of Afghanistan Carpet Industry Union.