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Turkmenistan invites Japan to take part in modernization of railways

Business Materials 24 October 2018 15:58 (UTC +04:00)

Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 24

By Huseyn Hasanov – Trend:

The government delegation of Turkmenistan held a number of business meetings in Tokyo, in particular the meeting with the President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Shinichi Kitaoka, the Vatan newspaper wrote Oct. 24.

The JICA has expressed its interest in collaborating on projects with a social focus. From this point of view, the Turkmen side has put forward a proposal to consider the possibility of participating in the project of modernization of the railways of Turkmenistan as a socially significant project aimed at providing high-quality transport services to the population of the country, the message says.

The sides noted the successful experience of interaction between the Government of Turkmenistan and JICA, through which the joint work in the field of seismology has been set up. The need to further expand ties in the field of education was also noted.

The series of talks in Tokyo also included a meeting with the Governor of the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) Tadashi Maeda, with whom the possibility of expanding the activities of this largest financial institution of Japan in Turkmenistan was discussed. The meeting was also held at the Japanese Nippon Export and Investment Insurance Agency (NEXI), which provides insurance coverage for financing joint economic projects.

An agreement was reached on holding consultations with NEXI on the issue of attracting various financial institutions to the implementation of projects in Turkmenistan.

A meeting was held with the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan Hiroshige Seko, at which a list of priority joint projects was determined, which were planned to be considered in 2018-2020. As a result, a memorandum on cooperation in the sphere of infrastructure was signed between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan.

As for the proposed project in the transport sector, Turkmenistan is conducting work on the electrification of railways, in particular, this refers to the purchase of modern locomotives powered by electric motors.

Earlier it was reported that the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway, which was commissioned in 2014, will give a powerful impetus to the development of the Caspian region. The total length of the trunk rail line, which runs from the steppes of Kazakhstan through the Karakum desert to the mountainous province of Gulistan in northern Iran, has been increased to 900 kilometers.

The purpose of the North-South corridor is to provide a transit link of the countries of Northern Europe and Russia with the countries of the Persian Gulf basin, the Indian Ocean basin and Southeast Asia region through Iran.

Being an alternative to the sea route through the Suez Canal, the North-South international transport corridor lays claim, above all, to container freight traffic. In November 2016, the opening ceremony of the new railway from the Turkmen city of Atamyrat to the Afghan residential settlement of Akina took place.

This railway section is part of the transnational railway project extending along the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan route. As a result, the new rail road should connect the Afghan Akina-Andkhoy rail section with the Atamyrat-Imamnazar rail section in Turkmenistan and Pyanj in Tajikistan.

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