Kazakhstan signs $500 million investment agreement on Turghandi-Herat railway

Afghan Voice Agency (AVNA) - Kabul: The two sides discussed expanding cooperation in the fields of transit, trade, railways, banking and economic relations, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. Mullah Baradar pointed to Afghanistan's strategic location and called the country an effective transit corridor for Kazakh energy transmission.

 

According to the agreement, Kazakhstan has pledged to invest $500 million in the Herat-Turghandi railway project. In addition, the Kazakh side has expressed its readiness to import electricity, market Afghan agricultural products and open accounts for Afghan banks.

 

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar assessed the relations between Afghanistan and Kazakhstan as positive and developing and expressed the readiness of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan to expand cooperation with Kazakhstan for the welfare and development of the country.

 

The deputy prime minister stressed that Afghanistan can provide the ground for the transfer of Kazakh energy to South Asia as an effective transit corridor.

 

Mullah Baradar Akhund, pointing to the opportunities available in both countries, stressed the possibility of joint cooperation in the fields of mining, transport, telecommunications, energy production, oil and gas and infrastructure projects.

 

During the meeting, the sides discussed the signing of an agreement on the preservation and quarantine of agricultural products, increasing exports and imports through railways, signing an international transport agreement, joint cooperation between Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in industrial, commercial and transit sectors, opening large trade centers in both countries and reducing the cost of trade. The agreements will increase trade between the two countries to $3 billion.

 

Then, Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Marat Nortliev said that his country will continue to support Afghanistan at the global level, adding that favorable conditions have been created for joint and close cooperation between the two countries in various fields.

 

He added that Kazakhstan is ready to invest $500 million in the Herat-Turghandi railway project.

 

Nortliff also announced that his country is ready to increase electricity exports to Afghanistan, export Afghan agricultural products to Kazakh markets and open accounts for Afghan banks at Azadi and Zaman banks in Kazakhstan.

 

The Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, while welcoming Kazakhstan's investment in the Herat-Turghandi railway project, called it an important step towards increasing the level of transit and trade between the two countries.