Afghanistan's jewellery and carving industry is improving with the professional training provided by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), the organisation claimed Saturday.
Dozens of jewellers and carvers in six key centers including in the northern Balkh, Badakhshan, Kunduz provinces and Kabul have been trained according to international standards through the GIZ programme in recent years, providing a much-needed boost to the industry.
"We are paving the way towards improving the jewellery and carving industry through our programmes in the north and north eastern provinces including Kabul," GIZ staffer Abdul Lative Faqiri said.
Techniques of jewellery making and carving, processing precious stones from Afghanistan mines, standard methods of stone cutting, use of small and big machines in jewellery and carving crafts, finding markets for products both in the country and abroad, and the financially support of jewellers and engravers are all topics covered in the GIZ training, he added.
Those who have already completed the training told TOLOnews that the programmes have been very effective.
"I learned a lot of things in the last two years with the help of GIZ. Now I can make different jewellery from various stones," one of the trainees said.
With precious and semiprecious stones being smuggled or exported in their raw state from Afghan mines to neighboring countries at low prices, economic experts say that such programmes will help keep precious stones in Afghanistan for treatment and ensure they can be sold at higher prices for export.