Economic Commission: The Technical Aspects of the Mes Aynak Copper Mine Contract with the Chinese Company MCC Should Be Evaluated

May 23, 2022

The Economic Commission headed by, Mullah Abdul Ghani Beradar Akhund, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs tasked a joint committee which will be headed by the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, and the committee members will be the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Urban Development, and a representative from the office of the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, to analyze the technical aspects of the contract signed with MCC, a Chinese company for the extraction of Mes Aynak in details, and submit their report to the Commission.

Since the IEA regained control of Afghanistan, the Chinese company has sought to amend its contract with the previous Kabul administration. They say that at the time, Chinese banks were lending to extract copper from the Aynak copper mine, which they are now refusing to do.

According to MCC officials, in this situation they have to make changes in the contract. The Economic Commission, headed by Mullah Abdul Ghani Beradar Akhund, has appointed a committee to evaluate all aspects of the agreement in light of the amendments sought by the Chinese side.

After detailed discussions at the regular meeting of the Economic Commission, Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) was allowed to cancel contracts with the contractors for non-discretionary projects of Breshna Sherkat, surrender the equipment and protect them.

The commission also tasked a joint committee of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the Customs Department and the Afghanistan National Standard Authority (ANSA) to conduct technical discussions and research on the globalization of the Abu Nasr-e-Farahi commercial port and submit its report to the Economic Commission.

Abu Nasr-e-Farahi is one of Afghanistan's busiest ports, employing thousands of people. Transship in this port has been closed by the Islamic Emirate for some time.