Afghanistan launches privatisation drive

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has launched a commission charged with privatising his country's ailing state-run enterprises and breathing new life into the conflict-weary economy.

The privatisation commission, ordered by presidential decree last year, is an inter-ministerial body under Karzai's control, which will set about encouraging private businessmen to take the helm of state industry.

Some 174 state-run businesses existed under the 1979-89 communist regime, but 100 have been closed down by subsequent years of fighting and economic hardship in Afghanistan.

In a speech to launch the commission this week, director Abdul Khaliq Fazal said an international conference would be held in Afghanistan in February to drum up both domestic and foreign support for the privatisation programme.

Western sources involved in the campaign said transport, construction and agriculture companies would be the main privatisation targets while the energy and water sectors would remain state concerns.