Economic Governance Project
AECOM International Development implemented the trade and investment component of the Afghanistan Economic Governance Project (AEGP), as a partner with BearingPoint. We provided assistance directly to both the Central Bank of Afghanistan (DAB) and the Ministry of Commerce (MOC). Our project team also supported related efforts to strengthen the capacity of the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency (AISA).
Work at the MOC consisted of four areas of reform: administrative reform, establishment of the trade regime, administrative barrier reform, and export promotion. In the area of administrative reform, we analyzed and made recommendations for changing the ministry's Trade License Regime. The licensing procedure used to take some 50 steps; after our intervention, the procedure was reduced to 2. Our team of professionals worked to streamline the ministry's structure and activities related to trade policy and export promotion. We also guided the MOC through the implementation of required policy, legal, and institutional reform, including assisting it in establishing a foreign trade regime unit within the Government of Afghanistan. AECOM International Development also prepared an assessment of the barriers to Afghanistan's accession to the WTO, and provided technical assistance to aid the MOC in creating the necessary organizational structure required for multilateral trade accession.
Our expert also provided assistance to the MOC, USAID, local business owners and stakeholders to establish the Export Promotion Agency. We evaluated the Afghan environment for export development through the review of existing and prospective trade agreements providing access to Afghan exporters and current regional trading patterns to help develop a successful program of institutional capacity building for the new agency. Our resident Export Promotion Advisor helped the MOC put into place an institutional framework and strategy for the operation of the new agency. This work also included the creation and implementation of a new near-term export development plan, which analyzed the trade and investment patterns in a global, regional, and national setting. It also defined the overall vision for export development and core strategies to be undertaken.
Project experts also provided the main monetary and macroeconomic policy advisor at the DAB, responsible for the monetary research and policy division and for advising the governor on exchange rate stability (through intervention on the currency markets). In addition, we worked with the Afghan staff on the writing, editing, and publication of the DAB Quarterly Economic and Statistical Bulletin. The project trained Afghan professionals at the DAB in writing papers, conducting analysis, and managing the monetary data for the Macroeconomics and Statistical Unit Department.
