Business
Technical Studies of Railway Connecting Afghanistan with Four Nations ‘Completed’
Afghan Ministry of Public Works (MoPW) says the technical studies of a railway linking China with Iran via Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan has been completed.
The railway is expected to run from China’s Kashgar to Afghanistan’s Herat, then go through Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and finally connect with the Iranian railway.
The railroad lengths 2200 km and 50 percent passes through Afghanistan.
“We are working closely on construction of the corridor with neighboring countries, 50 percent of the project gets through Afghanistan,” said the Ministry of Public Works Spokesman, Mehdi Rohani.
The representatives of five countries involved in the proposed railway will meet in Tehran to discuss further on the project, Mehri said.
Following the issue, some Afghan economic experts say, the government should take practical steps for implementation of the project as it will provide job opportunities for hundreds of Afghans and it will have positive outcomes on the country’s national economy.
“With implementation of this railway [project], we will get rid of monopoly as the country will be a transit route to Asian nations,” said an Afghan Economic Expert, Taj Mohammad Talash.
It comes as China has been discussing for many years the possibility of constructing a railway connecting the country with its neighbors.
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry said Thursday it has signed cooperation agreements with ten institutions to support the development of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Nooruddin Azizi, Acting Minister of Commerce and Industry, said: “In the implementation of projects, we must pay special attention to our activities and actions and try to make useful use of the projects according to the requirements and benefit the beneficiaries.”
These ten institutions are to present their projects, the total value of which is around over $1.1 million. The projects will be carried out in Kabul, Baghlan, Ghor, Herat, Logar, Nangarhar, Balkh, Badakhshan and Jawzjan provinces and provide direct jobs for about 1,000.
To date, the ministry has signed MoUs for 72 projects in total, collectively valued at about $53.6 million.
These agreements have been signed with domestic and foreign companies for the establishment of small and medium-sized businesses.
In accordance with the principles and laws of the Islamic Emirate and prioritizing the implementation of projects for immigrants and returnees and internally displaced people, the ministry said 635,865 people will benefit through jobs directly and over 4.3 million will benefit indirectly in 25 provinces once these projects are implemented.
The National Statistics and Information Authority (NSIA) confirmed Tuesday that in the last month of solar year 1402, (March 2024) Afghanistan’s exports totaled $141.1 million and imports totaled $789.6 million.
This was down from $174 million for exports in the same period in 1401. However, imports increased by $99.2 million in 1402, up from $690.4 million.
Most exports in the last month of 1402 went to Pakistan, India and the United Arab Emirates, while in the last month of 1401 exports went to Pakistan, India and China.
The Ministry of Interior said the governor of Herat province Islam Jar met with Alim Khan Yasin Gildaye, Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Afghanistan, to discuss various issues around trade.
According to the ministry, the two sides discussed the expansion of trade facilities, increasing the volume of trade exchanges between traders of the two countries, reducing customs tariffs, solving the challenges of traders and issuing visas to them.
The Afghanistan-Kazakhstan Chamber of Commerce has been opened in Herat in order to facilitate and increase trade between the two countries.
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