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An initial flight, carrying five tonnes of dried fruit, was sent
on a Turkish Airlines flight to London, following similar routes
carrying dried fruit and other products to India and China,
where an inaugural cargo of pine nuts was sent in November.
"The air corridor has been one of the effective programs of the
national unity government for export development," said deputy
commerce and industry minister Zohoruddin Shirzada.
"Given that Afghanistan is a landlocked country, we must have
alternatives," he said.
Mazar-i-Sharif is one of Afghanistan's most prosperous and
economically powerful cities, already a major business hub
because of its proximity to the Hairatan border crossing into
Uzbekistan.
Afghan officials say the air corridor program, aimed at opening
up an alternative to the land route from the Pakistani port of
Karachi, has carried exports of more than $100 million since it
opened up in 2017.
The new air corridor follows the opening last month of the
so-called Lapis Lazuli corridor, a road, rail and sea route from
western Afghanistan to Turkey and Europe, part of President
Ashraf Ghani's push to build up Afghanistan's trade connections.
(Reporting by Abdul Matin Sahak; writing by James Mackenzie;
Editing by Nick Macfie)
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