Mahmoud Siadat, the head of Iran-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture said that despite announcing their readiness to implement joint trade projects with Iran, Taliban is not very willing to pursue these projects.

Referring to Uzbekistan, Siadat said that others have surpassed Iran in the field of investment in Afghanistan.

According to Iranian media, Siadat, said on Sunday that "other countries are now implementing very extensive projects" in Afghanistan.

He added that Afghanistan's neighbouring countries are establishing industrial factories, cultivating a variety of greenhouse crops, and even building universities in Afghanistan.

Referring to Uzbekistan's investments in Afghanistan, he said that Uzbekistan has signed joint agreements with Afghanistan and is now "one of Afghanistan's main trading partners”.

The Iranian official proposed the formation of a joint consortium with the Afghan private sector to pave the way for participation in the implementation of projects and coordination between the private sector of the two countries.

This comes even as the Taliban's Ministry of Industry and Commerce announced an increase in trade with the Islamic Republic.

The ministry said that Afghanistan had more than $1.827 billion in trade with Iran in the past seven months, including $30 million in exports and $1.8 billion in imports.

Afghanistan, as the sixth country for Iran's export destinations, had the highest amount of exports from Iran last year.