200 lorries cross Dogharoon each day into Afghanistan

Mahmood Koohgerd, Director General of Dogaroon Border Customs Office said on Thursday the export of goods, especially perishable ones such as fruits and vegetables, to Afghanistan from the important border crossing is going on few weeks after the trade stopped at the border gate due to a big fire on the other side of the border in Afghanistan. Trade resumed in the past few days on February 18 with the crossing of more than 30 trucks into Afghanistan.

Koohgerd added that now more than 200 lorries are exporting Iranian commodities each day into neighboring Afghanistan, while saying that the Afghan merchants are still reluctant to import their shipments into their own country weeks until normalcy returns to the border gate.

The Iranian official added that the Iranian side has made every preparation to resume full operation at the border gate.

Director-General of Dogaharoon Customs Office said that "Dogharoon Border Customs was not damaged during the incident at the border customs facility of the neighboring country, but due to the critical situation across the border in order to prevent any damages, its activities were halted for a short period of time this month."

"With the resumption of limited border trade in Dogaroon - Islam-Qala after the crossing of lorries carrying perishable export goods to Afghanistan, it is expected that as a result of serious and continuous pursuit of Afghan traders the damages to the country's border customs facility are fixed in the short time and cross-border trade returns to normalcy."

According to media reports, as many as 20 people were injured in a massive fire at Islam Qala border crossing in Afghanistan's Herat province on Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021. A huge fire that followed an explosion engulfed many of the hundreds of trucks lined up at the border crossing.

KI/IRN84242413