Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 11
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran-Afghanistan railway will be inaugurated by the end of the current Iranian fiscal year (March 2016).
Iranian Roads and Urban Development Minister Abbas Akhoundi made the remarks in a meeting in Tehran with Afghan Urban Development Affairs Minister Sadat Mansoor Naderi, IRIB reported on October 11.
The Afghan government should attempt to extend the railway to Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and then to China to complete the Silk Road route, Akhoundi said.
A meeting will be held in the near future with the participation of countries which are situated along the Silk Road, he noted.
"We agreed to launch 9 flights weekly from Iran to Afghanistan and the same number from Afghanistan to Iran as well," Akhoundi added.
Iran will also provide Afghanistan with its urban development expertise, he said.
Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan agreed on the need to construct a railway running through the territories of these countries in July 2012.
Iran expressed readiness to finance the Kyrgyz section of the railway.
Tajikistan's Ministry of Transport and Communications said that the length of the railway linking China's Kashgar city with Afghanistan's Herat city, will be 1,972 kilometers.
