AFGHAN-UZBEK DELEGATION DISCUSSES SHIPMENT OF GOODS

It is planned that loading capacity of goods at the Hayratan border town will be increased from 80 to 160 wagons a day, Deputy Commerce Minister Sharif Sharif said after a meeting with Uzbekistan delegation headed by Mr Akbar Shukurov. The delegation of Uzbekistan plans to discuss loading capacity of goods at the border with Afghan officials, Uzreport Information Portal reported.

The aim of the delegation is to visit and hold talks with Afghan officials on increasing the loading capacity of wagons at the Hayratan border town.

The Uzbek delegation is headed by Mr Shukurov, a deputy chairman of the Uzbekiston Temir Yollari (Uzbekistan Railways) state joint stock company.

It is said that a group of experts are also included in the delegation to assess ways of increasing loading capacity of wagons at Hayratan.

The Afghan border has the capacity of loading 80 wagons a day. Mr Sharif Sharif says the capacity will soon increase to 160 wagons per day. Mr Shukurov said that they expected to increase it to 250 wagons.

The talks on this issue take place at a time when hundreds of wagons are left unloaded at the Afghan border due to low capacity. Afghan government had previously promised to increase the loading capacity of the border town by three times.
Source: Embassy of Uzbekistan to Belgium, 2009-02-09