Yildiz: Turkey up to resource investment in Afghanistan

Turkey is planning to increase its investment in mines, oil and other natural resources in Afghanistan, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said during a visit to the conflict-torn country over the weekend. The minister told journalists on Sunday that meetings with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and various cabinet ministers had been "fruitful" steps toward bringing Turkish mining and oil operations to Afghanistan. "Turkey is growing its presence in Afghanistan, and that presence will have a very positive impact on Turkey's development," the minister was quoted by the Anatolia news agency as saying. "We spoke to eight different ministries over mining work. … It is critical that we work together as [Turkish] public and private firms on Afghanistan's natural resources and the riches it possesses underground," the minister said. Yildiz did not elaborate on the scale of mining or other investments proposed during his visit. Ankara has already made a significant investment in Afghanistan's resource wealth, with its state oil firm, the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO), buying a $50 million stake in the Tajik Basin, a region located between the northern cities of Mazar-i-Sharif and Kunduz, in November of last year. Yildiz said on Sunday that TPAO has since made a $60 million offer to explore for oil in four separate wells, though he did not explain how far along negations were over the deal. President Karzai told reporters at the presidential palace on Saturday that the government looked at the deal and other proposed Turkish investment as a key way to help sustain the country's economy as aid money dwindles and Kabul looks for new sources of revenue. The Afghan government has increasingly looked to other Muslim nations to help boost investment in its crippled economy. In late February, the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency (AISA) announced that it would travel to Turkey, Pakistan and several Gulf states to encourage investment. The agency's president, Wafiullah Iftikhar, told various press outlets in February that it would offer investors free land, price reductions on electricity and 10 years of tax exemptions.