Afghanistan is pinning its hopes on a "made by Afghan women" label to stimulate exports and give its war-shattered economy a much needed boost.
"We have come up with two basic ideas to promote our exports," Ashraf Ghani, an advisor to interim leader Hamid Karzai said.
"The first is a label `made in Afghanistan' and the second is a label `made by the women of Afghanistan,'" he said.
A former World Bank executive, Ghani, who arrived in Kabul just a few months ago, is brimming with ideas of how Afghanistan can develop its export potential, notably by selling to Europe.
Afghan carpets, made primarily by women are known around the world for their quality and craftsmanship. Ghani is counting on international sympathy for the country, which has been wracked by decades of civil war and five years of harsh rule by the Taliban, to draw buyers.
"Once the value the women derive from their work increases they will be able to live much better lives and then investment in a woman turns into a major investment in education of the children and improvement of the life of the children," Ghani said.
But that relies on equal employment, a developing concept in Afghanistan but one that has yet to be pronounced.
As well as carpets, the authorities are looking to Afghanistan's other natural resources to improve the economy.
"The first item on that list is our grapes, they are an enormous asset," Ghani said. "The key here is to meet health standard, certificate of origin, quality and packaging."
The goods will be certified by a non-governmental organisation which will also assess working conditions.
Employees will work no more than eight hours a day and children are banned from working, Ghani said.
Economic analysts estimate that companies moving from high-volume, low-value goods to low-volume, high-value would need government support in the short to long term.
Herbs and spices are another Afghan asset, Ghani says. "It's a several-billion-dollar industry in Europe and the United States. We produce saffron and cumin which could replace [opium derivative] poppy farming" he says.
Afghanistan last year was the world's number one producer of opium, but the interim administration has recently banned poppy cultivation and launched an unpopular but successful eradication program.
Ghani said textile exports would play a key role in revitalising the moribund private sector, but that marble, "among the best in the world" and cut flowers could also boost the domestic economy.
"We produce a major amount of cotton, and this could give a significant boost to the private sector to invest in textile," he said.
Afghanistan has been economically crippled by 23 years of civil conflict.
The sad state of the road network is a major obstacle to developing a robust export trade as is the lack of a commercial port. The closest, in Karachi in Pakistan, is 1,000km away.
RSS