Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, July 22
By Huseyn Hasanov – Trend:
Turkmenistan will donate certain products chosen by the Turkmen leader to Afghanistan as humanitarian aid, Trend reports referring to the local Altyn Asyr TV channel.
The corresponding order has been addressed to the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health and the Medical Industry, the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations, the Ministry of Textile Industry, and the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan (UIET).
Turkmenistan provides electricity and diesel fuel for Afghanistan on preferential terms, and allocated funds for the construction of a mosque in the Afghan village of Aqina last year.
The Turkmens of Afghanistan, comprising the population of the regions adjacent to the borders of Turkmenistan, are the second largest group of ethnic Turkmens (after Iranian Turkmens) located outside the historical Turkmen homeland.
It is worth mentioning that Turkmen specialists commissioned a railway line from the Turkmen city of Kerki to Afghanistan’s Aqina in 2016. The railway leading to the Afghan station of Torghundi was also reconstructed through their efforts.
The implementation of this project helped increase the station’s capacity, as well as its value in the commodity turnover of Afghanistan, and has opened up the possibility of bringing Afghan products to international markets and supplying the country with imported goods in an optimal way, including through the Caspian Sea.
By connecting Afghanistan with the international seaport of Turkmenbashi, this transport corridor will allow for reaching Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and European countries across the sea, the Turkmen government said earlier.
Turkmenistan is lobbying for the implementation of a number of regional infrastructure projects with the participation of Afghanistan. In particular, Turkmenistan is working on the implementation of such projects through the Afghan territory as the construction of a railway to Tajikistan and a gas pipeline to Pakistan and India.
Projects on the use of Afghan transit for the supply of Turkmen electricity are also being assessed. Turkmenistan has previously declared its readiness to provide its political space for conducting peace talks on Afghanistan.