CII has had a longstanding engagement promoting business between India and Afghanistan since 2002. This includes opening an office in Kabul, organizing trade shows, capacity building programs that have trained over 1000 Afghans, and generating self-employment. More recently, CII helped organize the 2012 Delhi Investment Summit and presented recommendations at the Tokyo Conference on Afghanistan that same year. CII also facilitates visits of Afghan ministers and business delegations to key Indian events and leads business delegations from India to Afghanistan to explore opportunities in sectors like agriculture, mining, infrastructure and more. CII has signed MOUs with the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Afghanistan Investment Support Agency to further business ties.

1. © Confederation of Indian Industry
Afghanistan Reconnected
The Potential for Afghanistan to Act as an Economic
Land bridge in Asia
Presentation on Priorities for the business sector; Finding
markets for Afghan products in ECO,SCO and SAARC member
countries; Promoting Private –Public Partnerships
Manish Mohan
Director & Head- South Asia
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)
April 10, 2013

2. © Confederation of Indian Industry
Role of CII in
Promoting Business in Afghanistan
Long Standing Engagement
- Opening up of office in 2002
- India Show in 2002 on Manufacturing / Technological
Capabilities of Indian Companies ( has resulted in the
presence of several large construction & infrastructural
companies in Afghanistan)

3. © Confederation of Indian Industry
Mr Subodh Bhargava, Past President, CII in a session with
H E Mr Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan

4. © Confederation of Indian Industry
Long Standing engagement
- Capacity building
• 25 Afghan candidates trained by CII under CII Skill Development
Programme

5. © Confederation of Indian Industry
Long Standing engagement
- Capacity building
• Women led Chambers comprising small entrepreneurs
• Setting up of Training Institute in Kabul in partnership with
Government of India. 1000 Afghans trained
Role of CII & Business in Afghanistan

6. © Confederation of Indian Industry
Long Standing engagement
- Generating Self-employment

7. © Confederation of Indian Industry
Delhi Investment Summit on Afghanistan:
28th June 2012 in New Delhi
• CII in partnership with Governments of India & Afghanistan
and with support of the Afghan Investment Support Agency
and Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce & Industry
organized Delhi Investment Summit
• Over 500 business representatives from Afghanistan, India
and across the world came together with senior policy
makers to map out exciting new opportunities for the
international business community in Afghanistan.
Contd…..
Recent Engagements of CII

8. © Confederation of Indian Industry
Delhi Investment Summit on Afghanistan: 28 June 2012 in
New Delhi
• Five Senior Cabinet Ministers
• Senior Government officials
• 106 Afghan companies
• 200 Indian companies and
• 90 International companies and
organizations from almost 34
countries participated in the
Summit.
•This was the first time that India hosted an Investment Summit
for another country.

9. © Confederation of Indian Industry
Key recommendations of Delhi Investment
Summit on Afghanistan, 28th June 2012 in New
Delhi
• Government of Afghanistan
 Provide Incentives for Investments, Early Bird Incentives, Regulatory
Framework, Investment matchmaking, Infrastructural development
• International Business Community
 Strengthening of IT Sector , Corporate Social Responsibility, Skill and
Human Development, Women Empowerment, B2B Forum
• International Community
 Mutual Compact, International Funds for Afghan SMEs, Land locked
to Land linked , Risk Mitigation through Insurance
cover, International market access for Afghanistan’s
products, incentives to International Investors, Financial resources

10. © Confederation of Indian Industry
Tokyo Conference on Afghanistan, 8th July 2012
• CII made a presentation at the Tokyo Conference on
Afghanistan on the key recommendation of Delhi
Investment Summit
• Key Highlights and achievement of Tokyo summit
 International community pledged 16 billion USD
 Offered help both in terms of financial terms, capacity
building and scholarships.

11. © Confederation of Indian Industry
Key activities/ programmes
Regular participation of Afghan Ministers and Business
delegation in the CII Flagship programmes
 Partnership Summit
 Indian Mining and Machinery Exhibition
 Agro Tech Fair
 Global MSME Summit
Participation of Afghanistan in India

12. © Confederation of Indian Industry
Business Interaction of the Captains of Indian
Industry with H E Mr Hamid
Karzai, President of Afghanistan on 10th
November 2012 at Mumbai
President Karzai
invited Indian
Industry to invest in
key sectors of
Afghanistan
 Mining
 Agriculture
 SME
 Infrastructure

13. © Confederation of Indian Industry
Visit of CII Business delegation to
Afghanistan, March 2013
• Recently, an 18 member business delegation visited Kabul
and met with the Chambers of Commerce & Industry, Key
Ministers, AISA, USAID and other institutions
• The delegation had fruitful B2B meetings.
• Large conglomerates of Indian Industry such as Tata
Group, Ashok Leyland, Dabur, Escorts, KEC, WAPCOS
etc
• The business interest of the delegation represented diverse
sectors including Automobiles, Agri
Business, Machinery, FMCG, Electrical
Machinery, Ayurvedic Herbs and products

14. © Confederation of Indian Industry
Visit of CII Business delegation to
Afghanistan, March 2013

15. © Confederation of Indian Industry
B2B Meetings in Progress

16. © Confederation of Indian Industry
Ministers of Afghanistan addressing the
CII Delegation in Kabul

17. © Confederation of Indian Industry
To intensify its business engagement in
Afghanistan, CII has signed an MOU with the
following partners:
Institutional Partnerships
•Afghanistan Chamber
of Commerce &
Industries ( ACCI)
•Afghanistan
Investment Support
Agency ( AISA)

18. © Confederation of Indian Industry
The potential areas of Indian investments and cooperation are:
Agri Business
• Huge potential in agri business and agro processing.
• Produces hybrid varieties of grapes, pomegranates, melons
and apples etc.
• Produces dry fruits including
almonds, walnut, pistachio, figs, raisins and apricots etc.
• India can leverage the advantage of geographical proximity
for agro processing and value addition of these products
• Can help Afghanistan in technology transfer, skill
building, cold storages and various other facilities
The Untapped Potential

19. © Confederation of Indian Industry
Other potential sectors for investment in
Afghanistan
• Mining
• Oil and gas sector
• Power generation
• Telecommunication
• Health care
• Tourism
• IT sector
• Housing and construction
• Banking and Financial services
These Areas are still underdeveloped which make it the opportune time for Indian
investors to cultivate customers and establish a first mover advantage.

20. © Confederation of Indian Industry
Impediments to trade and investments
• Lack of information on product profile
• Infrastructure including power , road etc
• Investment Law
• Banking and Telecommunication link
• Legal protection for investors
• Lack of availability of skilled manpower
• Law and order situation

21. © Confederation of Indian Industry
Way Forward
• Road shows in India to showcase business opportunities and
attract investments into Afghanistan
• Exposure of Afghan businessmen to India
• Creating adequate human skills through capacity building
which would in turn strengthen trade and investment
linkages.
– Training the Trainers ( TOT) programmes

22. © Confederation of Indian Industry
Thank You