A delegation led by Uzbekistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade Sardor Umurzakov held a meeting with Federal Minister for Railways Muhammad Azam Khan Swati, Minister for Planning Asad Umar, Minister for Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam and Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood in Islamabad.
During the meeting progress on the Mazar-e-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar Rail project (Trans Afghan Railway) was discussed. All stakeholders on behalf of the Government of Pakistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan present during the meeting agreed on the formation of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for further expediting the project.
The Uzbek delegation included the Uzbek Minister of Transport, Minister of Agriculture, First Deputy Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Pakistan.
The Mazar-e-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar rail link is one of the designated rail corridors defined and planned under the CAREC Railways Strategy. This new Railway line will provide central Asia access to the Pakistani seaports of Karachi, Bin Qasim, and Gwadar by connecting the central Asian and Eurasian railway systems. The major infrastructure development project will provide lifeline support for the reconstruction of Afghanistan and will help towards reducing the humanitarian crises building up in Afghanistan.
The project was initially discussed during the visit of Uzbekistan Deputy PM Sardor Umurzakov to Pakistan in September 2020. The heads of the States of Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan signed a joint appeal letter to the World Bank for financing the project on December 27, 2020. Uzbekistan hosted the first trilateral Joint Working Group in February last year in Tashkent where the roadmap was agreed and signed by three countries.
Pakistan Railways is already conducting a feasibility study of the new rail link from Peshawar to Jalalabad which will be completed soon. It has been agreed by the three countries that the Pakistani side will share the findings of the feasibility study with Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.
After the new government in Afghanistan, this project was discussed by Uzbekistan and Pakistan with the new government. All three countries decided to go ahead with the project activities. In the meeting conducted in Tashkent on December 7, 2021, Uzbekistan and Pakistan agreed to carefully study and conduct visual expeditions of the routes inside Afghanistan. The Uzbek side shared a draft version of a detailed action plan for the implementation of the first stage on the construction of the Trans Afghan Railway line.
Federal Minister for Railways Muhammad Azam Khan Swati met with Uzbekistan’s Minister of Transport Makhkamov Ilkhom Rustamovich on the sidelines of OIC on December 19, 2021, to discuss the implementation of trilateral understanding on the construction of the Trans Afghan Railway between Mazar-e-Sharif, Kabul, Jalalabad, Torkham and Peshawar.
A delegation from Pakistan visited Uzbekistan and met with representatives of the Ministry of Transport of Uzbekistan on February 15, 2022, to further discuss steps for the practical implementation of the project. During the discussion, the Pakistani side expressed its readiness to start field expeditions in March this year.
