Coal, oil, gas, logistics, and schools

Afghan Tatars offer Tatarstan to start a large-scale business in their homeland

The Afghan Tatars offer Tatarstan to organise the extraction of minerals on its territory, take under its wing the production of companies that have left the country and become the main partner in the logistics of Russian and Afghan products. This was announced at the plenary session of the forum “Business Partners of Tatarstan” by Zabikhullo Naderi, the chairman of the socio-cultural foundation of Tatars of Afghanistan and the Council of Tatars of Afghanistan. In particular, he pointed out that, according to Soviet experts, Afghanistan has oil reserves of 300 million tonnes and gas reserves of 2000 billion cubic metres.

Western companies have left? Let Tatarstan ones come

“Now our country is actively developing," the guest pointed out. “In the northern part of Afghanistan alone, where Tatars live, almost 10 thousand tonnes of coal are produced a day. We are ready to organise the best conditions for Tatarstan companies for mining.

Naderi also said that there are many production facilities of Western companies left in Afghanistan. He offered the republican entrepreneurs to make their expertise and bring them back to life.

“The sphere of automobile transportation through Uzbekistan is actively developing in Afghanistan," the chairman continued. “Thousands of tonnes of goods have been transported through our country in one year.

In 2023, it is planned to build railways between Afghanistan and Pakistan, they will be built according to Russian standards. According to forecasts, 20 million tonnes of cargo will be transported on these roads annually. It will be the transport centre of Central Asia. Afghanistan offers Tatarstan to become the main partner in the logistics of Russian and Afghan products.

There will be schools — give skills

However, the biggest applause was caused by the remark that now more than two million Tatars of Afghanistan receive birth certificates, and in 12 provinces, the Tatar language will be studied in 10 thousand schools.

It is much more than in Tatarstan. However, Naderi noted, the support of the republic is required — online education, teacher training at republican universities, textbooks.

The Afghan Tatars came to Tatarstan during the events of the VIII Congress of the World Congress of Tatars. The main representative of them in our region is the general director of the Kazan Charitable Patriotic Fund of Muslims, Rustam Khabibullin.

In October 2021, he held a press conference where he said that, in his opinion, Tatarstan should establish its representative office in Afghanistan to provide assistance to local Tatars — and this is flour, sugar and sunflower oil.

In March 2021, the Afghan government added the nationality column to the passport — and about half a million people registered themselves as Tatars. Khabibullin also said that Afghanistan “is being on the verge of its Holodomor. A significant part of the population actually does not just live below the poverty line, the existence of millions of Afghans is under threat.”

Radif Kashapov
Tatarstan