KABUL: Several Afghan businesswomen attended an exhibition in Dubai remotely this week to promote jewelry, carpets, dried fruit, and other handmade goods as part of a drive to access global markets following work options for females shrank in Afghanistan after the Taliban took power in the country.
The three-day display, held at a hotel in Dubai and organized by the UN Development Programme and the Afghan Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AWCCI), started on Thursday and includes twenty-six women-run businesses.
Afghan Businesswomen to promote jewelry, carpets, dried fruit in global market
Due to travel and visa restrictions, most business owners joined the exhibition through a video link from Kabul.
Rayhana Karim, associated with the AWCCI, said at the show in Dubai that they were working to generate a brand for their products, labelling these goods “Made by Afghan Women,” to reach consumers worldwide to support and assist women’s rights.
“The end-consumers in the United States (US), Europe, and the UAE, wish to support Afghan women, we need to give them with an opportunity,” Karim told Reuters news agency.
“You are backing an Afghan woman when buying a product … and you are enabling her to gain financial independence.”
According to the International Labour Organization recently 25 percent of women’s jobs had disappeared in Afghanistan after the Taliban took government. Afghanistan’s economy has been severely stalled after foreign governments stopped central bank assets and imposed sanctions on the banking sector.
