Trans-Afghan railway: Technical, economic study pact signed

KABUL (Pajhwok): Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have signed an agreement on technical and economic study of the trans-Afghan railway project.

The 780-kilometer long railway line will connect Central Asia with South Asia from Afghanistan. It starts from Mazar-i-Sharif and reaches Torkham town.

A delegation headed by Afghanistan Railway Authority (ARA) chief Bakht Rahman Sharafat left for Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, on Sunday to participate in the Trans-Afghan railway project conference.

The agreement was signed between Bakht Rahman Sharfat, Minister of Transport of Uzbekistan and President of United Arab Emirates (ADL Ulanish) Al Anish, ARA said in a statement.

Under the agreement, the UAE firm will conduct a technical and economic study at its own expense and share its results with international financial institutions and traders for investment.

It added participants of the conference in Tashkent also agreed that delegations of Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and the UAE would discuss the project online with Pakistani and Qatari officials tomorrow.

According to the statement, this project has been under discussion for years and after the political change in Afghanistan, initial survey was successfully conducted by technical teams of Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan.

The ARA once again invited countries, international financial institutions and businessmen to invest in Afghanistan Railway projects and vowed to provide necessary facilities to investors.

kk/ma

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