26 Jul 2022 20:57

Beijing ready to support Trans-Afghan transport corridor project

TASHKENT. July 26 (Interfax) - Beijing is ready to support the implementation of transport projects, including a railroad that would connect Mazar-i-Sharif, Kabul and Peshawar, China's special envoy to Afghanistan Yue Xiaoyong said.

"The Chinese leadership is ready to support the implementation of trans-regional projects, including the Mazar-i-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar railway line and a railroad connecting Western China with Central Asia," Yue told an international conference, entitled "Afghanistan: security and economic development," in Tashkent on Tuesday.

Such megaprojects would contribute to a lasting peace on Afghan land and strengthen regional interconnectedness, he said.

"Beijing sees Afghanistan as a bridge linking Central and South Asia," the envoy said.

The rising threats and challenges in Afghanistan have negative implications for global as well regional security, he said.

Earlier at the conference, Uzbekistan's Acting Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov said that his country, Afghanistan and Pakistan had begun fieldwork on the project to build the Trans-Afghan railroad between Mazar-i-Sharif, Kabul and Peshawar.

On February 2, 2021, after talks in Tashkent, the three countries signed a joint plan to build the 573km railroad with an annual capacity to transit up to 20 million tonnes of cargo.