KARACHI, Jan 3: The governor, Central Bank of Afghanistan, Anwar Ahadi on Saturday said that banking channels in his country were being organized and six foreign banks are going to open their branches this year.

During his visit to REAP House, Anwar Ahadi said there would be no problem in opening up of Letter of Credit once the banking system streamlined.

Responding to a point raised by a member of the Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP), he said that we could allow you to open REAP office in Kabul so that payment problem was resolved.

The governor said that top most priority of the present government of Karzai was to control law and order and to ensure security in the entire country.

He said Afghanistan is keen to promote foreign investment and that is too from neighbouring countries like Pakistan. "We would like to have trading partners and already there are good signs of growth in trade which recorded a rise of 27 per cent last year," he added.

Mr Anwar Ahadi said by middle of this year six foreign bank branches will start functioning in Afghanistan and that would resolve the issue of opening of LCs.

Presently, the biggest problem faced by Afghanistan, he said was the infighting and killing by the warlords but one should not be afraid of as it was mostly target killing. The most important issue was to disarm these warlords, he added.

The former chairman REAP Abdul Rahim Janoo who presided over the meeting in the absence of chairman and vice chairman they were abroad, said that this year the country would export around two million tons of rice and fetch $600 million.

He said Afghanistan is big market and Pakistani rice is popular with Afghans. Around 0.25 million tons was imported by Afghanistan annually.

Mr Janoo said that Pakistani rice was not only good in quality but also cheaper than other varieties from other countries. Presently, he said, Pakistani rice is exported to over 65 countries of the world.