KABUL (TCA) — Afghanistan and Uzbekistan will start transiting goods across their border in the near future, officials from the Afghan Ministry of Commerce and Industries said, adding that delegations from the two countries are working to make this happen, TOLOnews reports.
Spokesman for the ministry, Musafir Qoqandi, told TOLOnews that Afghan goods will be sent by train from Uzbekistan to other parts of the world.
The two countries signed dozens of agreements and contracts during Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s trip to Tashkent in December.
A joint team was created following Ghani’s visit to Uzbekistan to work on the implementation of the agreements which include trade and transit between the two nations.
“We continue our efforts to start our transit as soon as possible. Uzbekistan is also very interested in starting transit through Afghanistan,” Qoqandi said.
Deputy head of Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Khanjan Alokozay, meanwhile recommended the Afghan government take the issue under “proper management”.
“Uzbekistan is trying to use Afghanistan route because it needs a closer route to South Asia. It exports iron and cotton worth billions of dollars every year,” Alokozay said.
In December, Afghan and Uzbekistan officials signed more than 20 agreements which include economic, transit, security, electricity, agriculture, health and higher education cooperation between the two countries.
The Afghan National Security Adviser and his Uzbek counterpart also signed a Memorandum of Understanding on maintaining the security of the Hairatan bridge on the Uzbek-Afghan border.
