Feature: Afghan carpet seller upbeat about business opportunities ahead from China-South Asia Expo

Afghan carpet seller Sayed Bilal Farooqi shows a carpet in his store in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, July 14, 2024. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)

KABUL, July 20 (Xinhua) -- As an exhibitor at the upcoming China-South Asia Expo, Sayed Bilal Farooqi, a veteran Afghan businessman, has been busy preparing the carpets that he hopes to show to Chinese customers.

"In the past years, we hardly exported 1,000 square meters of carpet to China annually, but so far this year about 30,000 to 40,000 square meters have been exported," he said.

"The market is bustling and will flourish further. Possibly, we will export 50,000 square meters next year as the Chinese people have become familiar with the quality of our carpets and are interested in buying them," Farooqi, a member of the Afghan Carpet Manufacturers and Exporters Guild under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, told Xinhua.

The eighth China-South Asia Expo is scheduled to be held from July 23-28 in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province.

Inheriting the business from his father and engaged in the hand-woven carpet business for more than 40 years, Farooqi foresaw a bright future for Afghan carpets in the Chinese market, saying that the people of China did not know about Afghanistan and its carpets 20 years ago, but currently, they are more fond of Afghan-made carpets.

"I attended an exhibition in Shanghai 20 years ago and we introduced the Afghan carpet. The people did not know Afghanistan, but currently, the Afghanistan-made carpet is popular there and flourishing in Chinese markets," he said.

For the carpet seller, the Chinese market has huge potential. "Germany is the main market of Afghan carpets, followed by Australia, Canada, and Europe. In China, the market is bustling this year. This is the first year that we export carpets to China after the pandemic," he said.

The Afghan businessman has already sent carpets to the China-South Asia Expo. "I have sent 4,000 to 5,000 square meters of carpets so far, and other companies will also send between 2,000 and 5,000 square meters."

Farooqi also expressed gratitude to the Expo's Chinese organizers for providing facilities to Afghan traders, saying, "Our booths are free of charge, with reduced taxes, and many facilities are free, and transporting our goods from the airport to the exhibition site is free of charge each year."

"My expectation is to earn much more than last year. We have 70 booths for Afghanistan, and each booth is 14 square meters in area," he said.

A participant in several exhibitions in China over the past two decades, the ambitious businessman said his flourishing business and interaction with Chinese counterparts have benefited the local people in Afghanistan.

"After selling our carpets there (China), we return home and buy more carpets. Therefore, people at home can start their work to weave more carpets," Farooqi said.

"Directly and indirectly, some 5,000 people have been working with us. In Afghanistan, people have been working in the carpet industry in Herat, Ghor, Badghis, Faryab, Mazar-i-Sharif, Jalalabad, Ghazni, and Bamiyan," He said.

"Of these workers, 80 percent are women," Farooqi noted.

Afghan carpet seller Sayed Bilal Farooqi shows the packed carpets to be exhibited in the 8th China-South Asia Expo in his store in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, July 14, 2024. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)

Afghan carpet seller Sayed Bilal Farooqi shows a carpet in his store in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, July 14, 2024. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)

This photo taken on July 14, 2024 shows the carpets at the store of carpet seller Sayed Bilal Farooqi in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)