Wednesday January 22, 2014
Kabul (BNA) In Demotic exhibition held in Germany, Afghan hand weaved carpet achieved the first position from amongst sixty contenders from all over the world.
Tanvir Company represented Afghanistan in the exhibition and won the Oscar award. Elaborating on the topic, Qurban Haqjo, Chairman of Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) said, “Afghani carpets always have won first position and carpet have been the number one export items of the country, carpet industry has provided one million employment opportunities to the people, over the past nine months, nearly 2,000 meters carpets were weaved which cost around $19 million financial resources and this figure is now up by $64 million.”
“Although, the amount shows little decline as compare to 2007, but with consideration of political and security circumstances, our achievements have been satisfactory, in 2007, we gained nearly $262 million from carpet sector, this the second time that Afghani carpets have won international Oscar award and it’s a great national pride and would lay constructive impacts on further growth and enhancement of carpet weaving industry,” Mr. Haqjo added.
Responding to a question regarding impacts of the award on development of carpet industry, Dawood Jabbar Khail executive director of Tanvir Company said, “The exhibition was attended by various countries including Iran, US, Belgium, China, Turkey and India, fortunately Afghanistan won the prize, Afghani carpet is weaved according to the climate, mood and culture of particular areas and this support it to win the award.” “Despite the challenges, our weavers got the national pride, we hope that the concerned institutions focus on the problems of the carpet weavers of the country so that they further intensify their works and always brighten name of the country in international level,” Jabbar Khail added.
Meanwhile, carpet dealers have said that the achievement is a great national pride to Afghanistan and expressed hope that Afghan carpet industry will always keep its reputation in international markets. “Carpet and carpet weaving has long history in Afghanistan and Afghani carpet has remained unique among other products in the world,” carpet trader Taj Mohammad said, “In recent year, Afghan local markets have been flooded with imported products, this has attracted people to purchase machine weaved carpets because of its low prices.” A carpet weaver Ali highlighted the problems faced by the weavers in the country and said, “Afghani carpets are produced after many hardships, because we process the raw materials and it takes time to prepare the materials for weaving a carpet, the government should focus on expansion and issues of weavers.” This come at a time that Afghani carpets also gained Oscar award in 1387 exhibition in Germany during the special exhibition.
