Uzbekistan and Afghanistan discussed reducing fees for road freight carriers, the press service of the Ministry of Transport said.
The issue was raised at a meeting between Transport Minister, Ilkhom Mahkamov and the Afghan Minister of Industry and Trad,e Nooriddin Azizi on July 4 in Tashkent.
The parties also discussed providing scholarships for improving the capacity of employees of the Afghan Railway Administration, and the start of the technical survey of the Trans-Afghan railway project.
The day before the visit of the Afghan delegation, Tashkent hosted an Uzbek-Afghan business forum, where First Deputy Minister of Transport, Mamanbiy Omarov reported the growth of cargo transportation along the transport corridor between the countries by 1.5 times over the past 2 years, since Uzbekistan provided a number of waivers for road and rail transportation.
According to him, the Afghan government will soon introduce payments for goods from Uzbekistan on an equal basis. The development of bilateral and transit transport should be mutually beneficial, he emphasized.
“We are also ready to jointly develop and sign a transit agreement between Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as join the Chobakhar Agreement,” Omarov added.
The Hairatan-Mazar-i-Sharif railway repair project started in February this year. In parallel with this project, restoration is underway in Park “B” of Hairatan station.
The chiefs of the railway authorities of Uzbekistan and Afghanistan agreed to repair the section of the Hairatan-Naibabad-Mazar-e-Sharif railway in November last year. According to the Afghan side, the head of Uzbekistan Railways, Zufar Narzullaev, promised to carry out repairs “with high quality and at a reasonable price, providing a 50% discount.”
