According to Afghan officials, their country’s exports have visibly improved over the past year. Ajmal Hamid Abdulrahimzai, Afghanistan’s deputy industry and commerce minister, says his country’s exports in the first nine months of 2018 increased nearly 20 percent compared with the same period the previous year.

“Fortunately, our exports have been increasing during the past few years, and we are doing everything to enhance this trend,” he told journalists in Kabul on January 2. “With the help of the private sector, we are now implementing our national strategy for exports, which was approved by the cabinet earlier.”

Abdulrahimzai says Kabul exported some 5,200 tons of Afghan goods worth more than $100 million from January through September in 406 cargo flights through nine air corridors. These air corridors marked a significant boost in the overall volume of Afghan exports, which were estimated at more than $830 million in 2017.

The goods included dried fruit, fresh fruits, vegetables, saffron, marble, granite, carpets, and precious stones. “At present, Afghanistan exports goods through the Kabul-Delhi, Kabul-Mumbai, Kabul-Riyad, Kabul-Istanbul, Kabul-Dubai, Kabul-Almaata, Kabul-Russia, Afghanistan-EU, and Afghanistan-China air corridors,” the ministry said in a January 2 statement.