Afghan officials say their landlocked country’s exports have visibly improved over the past year compared with the year before.

 The Lapis Lazuli Corridor is serving as an outstanding alternative to Pakistan’s Karachi transit route, helping connecting Afghanistan to Europe, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce said on Sunday.

The first transit cargo arrived at the Baku International Sea Trade Port via the Lapis Lazuli international route, Trend reports.

 It was supposed to be a grand moment for President Ashraf Ghani — the opening of a new trade corridor that brought his landlocked country a link to Europe through Central Asia, and promised him some rare positive news as a re-election campaign approaches. But what grabbed the headlines after Thursday’s event was chaos and violence.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoF) on Tuesday said Afghanistan is preparing to export the first shipment of products through the Lapis Lazuli Transit, Trade and Transport Route within the next two days.

The first delivery of Afghan goods through the international transport corridor Lapis Lazuli, which passes through Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey and further to Europe, will be held in October, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce said.