Azernews.Az

A ceremony for laying the Atamyrat-Ymamnazar-Akina section within the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan -Tajikistan international railway project was held in the Lebap region of Turkmenistan with participation of the Presidents of the three countries - Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan - Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, Hamid Karzai and Emomoli Rahmon on June 5, according to the Turkmen government.

The event was held in the framework of tripartite memorandum of understanding signed in Ashgabat in March. Countries interested in the project's implementation are waiting for support from international financial institutions such as the Asian Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank and others.

Construction of the Turkmen section Atamyrat-Ymamnazar will be undertaken by the structures of the Ministry of Railway Transport of Turkmenistan.

The planned route in the territory of Turkmenistan will be laid parallel to the existing Atamyrat - Ishkak - Ymamnazar road around Zeid reservoir.

Ashgabat and Kabul signed the draft inter-governmental framework agreement on this project back in 2011. Turkmenistan, which has a long border with Afghanistan, has repeatedly voiced a number of initiatives for social and economic regeneration of the neighboring state, which have been positively assessed by the UN and the OSCE.

At the beginning of the year, the Turkmen capital hosted an international working meeting to promote the development of Afghanistan with the participation of neighboring countries, international organizations and potential donors. In addition, Ashgabat proposed to implement energy projects, allowing a fivefold increase in the volume of exports of Turkmen electricity to Afghanistan, which is now available on favorable terms of up to 325 million kilowatt-hours per year.