Part of President Ghani’s statement at the 7th Conference of the Heart Of Asia – Istanbul Process, held in Baku, Azerbaijan, on 1 December 2017.
Transport; the Chabahar port is going to be inaugurated in next couple of days and the railway connection to Afghanistan through Khaf to Herat, is fast proceeding completion. We are looking very much forward to seek corridor to India through Chabahar and equally we are delighted to provide the flow to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan the linkages to Iran and beyond to the gulf.
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Railway, the Turkmen railway has reached Aqinah, as I mentioned Khaf Herat is fast proceeding, but the price is what we are working on now to link Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to Iran and Pakistan and China to all these countries. The five nation railway is moving from conception to financing and implementation.And of course, the Lapiz Lazuli Route, Mr. President [of Azerbaijan], I will never forget your speech in the Chicago summit where you committed considerable resources to make both the air corridor possible but particularly the linkages and I want to thank Georgia and Turkey and congratulate you on this new way of diversification. I am very proud to state that Afghanistan, after 117 years, again is an inherent member of central Asian and Caucasian community. And we look forward to enhancing these cooperation.
Source: President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani’s Statement At 7th Conference Of The Heart Of Asia – Istanbul Process, 1 December 2017