Featured Trade Show

Afghan Inspirations: Rug Renaissance, Coveted Traditions

January 28–February 1, 2008

Las Vegas, Nevada

A delegation of 10 Afghan rug businesses will be showing their products at this winter’s Las Vegas Market at the World Center Market in Las Vegas, Nevada. The market is a semiannual event devoted to furniture, decorative accessories, lighting, area rugs, and home textiles.

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The Afghan delegation will participate in a special exhibit at the show, “Afghan Inspirations: Rug Renaissance, Coveted Traditions.” The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Afghanistan Investment and Reconstruction Task Force, in conjunction with the Afghan Ministry of Commerce’s Export Promotion Agency of Afghanistan; the Afghan Embassy in Washington, D.C.; and the U.S. Agency for International Development, created the special exhibit.

Afghanistan was long recognized as a global leader in the production of hand-woven carpets, using centuries-old weaving techniques passed down through generations. The country’s resources, including its domestic supply of wool and natural dyes, helped to make the Afghan hand-woven rug a national treasure.

Afghanistan is now reasserting its revered carpet industry, which is proving to be a key element in the country’s economic reconstruction. Under the Generalized System of Preferences trade program, Afghan rugs can be imported into the United States duty free.

This show will be the third U.S. visit for Afghan rug producers that has been sponsored by the Afghanistan Investment and Reconstruction Task Force. One previous visit was to the AmericasMart in Atlanta, Georgia, in January 2007, and the other was a multicity tour in July 2006. Formed in 2003, the task force is an interagency body that promotes concrete initiatives to strengthen bilateral business ties between the United States and Afghanistan.

For more information on the Las Vegas Market and the exhibit of Afghan rugs, contact Ms. Noor Alam by e-mail at noor.alam@mail.doc.gov or visit the Web site of the Afghanistan Investment and Reconstruction Task Force.