Afghan officials hope that the new rail line linking Afghanistan and China will boost Afghanistan's economy, as it opens up new export opportunities. Much of landlocked Afghanistan’s imports and exports passes through Pakistan, but the Central Asian neighbours have a fraught relationship, and flaring tensions have caused transit delays at the border that add to the cost of goods. The new train line provides an alternative, quicker passage for the transportation of goods.
The first Chinese cargo train arrived in the northern Afghan port city of Hairatan on the border with Uzbekistan Wednesday 7 September. The 84-car train, carrying textiles, electronics and other goods valued at $20 million, was the first to transit a 3,000-kilometer (1,864 mile) rail line linking the port on the Amu Darya River, near Afghanistan’s third largest city of Mazar-e-Sharif, through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, to the Chinese port city of Haimen near Shanghai.
Part of China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative, a massive investment in the development of regional overland and maritime trade routes, the railway’s operations began as Afghanistan sought to rebuild its economy and wean itself from foreign assistance after 15 years of war with the Taliban.
“This is a very important occasion,” said Musafir Quqandi, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce and Industries. “We are opening a new route between Afghanistan and China that reduces costs and cuts the time it takes for our Afghan businessmen to get their goods.”
Previously, goods travelling from China to Afghanistan via Pakistan’s Karachi port could take one to three months to arrive. The new route, known as the Sino-Afghan Special Transportation Railway, bypasses Pakistan and cuts the time by half, or more. The first train left China on Aug. 25, the day the railway was inaugurated, and was slated to arrive in Afghanistan 15 days later. It arrived two days early.
Officials are also hopeful the new route, like the Silk Road that made Afghanistan a trade hub of the ancient world, will boost Afghan exports, including rugs, marble, saffron and dried fruit.
Source: stripes.com
