TEHRAN, Iran, Dec. 3
Trend:
The first export shipment from the Islamic Republic of Iran via Herat-Khaf railway arrived in Herat province of Afghanistan.
A local official in Afghanistan's Herat province announced on Wednesday that Iran's first 500 tons of cement shipment have entered into the country via the Herat-Khaf railway, Trend reports citing IRNA.
According to local officials in the western province of Afghanistan, the shipment was transferred to test and clarify possible problems and challenges.
The Khaf-Herat railway will be officially inaugurated by officials of the two countries in the coming days.
Earlier, several wagons from the Islamic Republic of Iran had been transferred to Herat during the Iranian delegation's visit.
Transport and Urban Development Deputy Minister Abbas Khatibi said the Khaf-Herat railway project has been completed and will be officially inaugurated through a video conference on December 10.
The official announced that the inauguration ceremony will be attended by the presidents of the two countries as well as the two sides’ transport ministers.
The 193-kilometers-long Khaf-Herat is part of the Iran-Afghanistan rail corridor. The project started in the fiscal year of 2007-2008, connects Iran’s eastern city of Khaf to Afghanistan’s western city of Ghoryan.
Iran was in charge of completing three of the mentioned four parts which are in the Iranian territory and the fourth part is the responsibility of the Afghan side.
The first two parts of the railway (77 km) were completed two years ago and the third part has been recently completed.
In a meeting with Afghanistan’s Acting Foreign Affairs Minister Mohammad Haneef Atmar in Tehran on June 22, Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian said that the third section of the Khaf-Herat railway project will be completed in the third quarter of the current Iranian calendar year (September 22-December 20).
In early July, Iranian and Afghan officials held a committee meeting to investigate the ways to complete Khaf-Herat railway.
