Uzbekistan

ADB grants funds for Mazar-i-Sharif railway

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

Exciting news from the Asian Development Bank today. Uzbekistan’s national railway UTY is to be awarded contracts to build a 75 km line from the Hayratan freight terminal to Mazar-i-Sharif by June 2011.

ADB is providing a USD165m grant towards the USD170m cost, with the Afghan government paying the remaining USD5m. Normal tendering procedures are being relaxed as UTY is the only organisation in a position to build and operate the line. As it will be in effect an extension of the Uzbek rail network, the line will be to 1520 mm gauge.

“Security remains an ongoing concern”, but “the project area is deemed relatively safe”.

ADB-Funded Railway to Help Afghanistan Improve Regional Links, Boost Growth

30 September 2009

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Afghanistan’s push to develop reliable, safer, sustainable transport systems that boost growth, and increase connectivity with neighboring countries are getting support from a $165 million Asian Development Bank (ADB) grant.

The funds will be used to build a 75 kilometer single line railway between Hairatan – a northern town at the border with Uzbekistan that is the gateway for almost half of Afghanistan’s imports and much of its humanitarian relief goods – and Mazar-e-Sharif, the second largest city in the country. The project will also upgrade Hairatan station yard, build a transshipment terminal and provide institutional support to develop a railway sector plan.

Afghanistan has the potential to play a key role as a transit route in Central Asia for goods going to ports in Pakistan and the Caspian, and onwards to South and East Asia, the Middle East and Europe. However, trade volumes are heavily constrained by weak transport systems. In the case of Hairatan, freight railed from inside Uzbekistan stops at the border and then has to be offloaded and reloaded into trucks, causing delays and raising costs.

“This line will boost freight volumes, lower costs, raise the profile of Afghanistan as a transit route, and complement two major transport corridors being developed under the Central Asia Regional Cooperation Program (CAREC),” said Balabhaskara Reddy Bathula, Transport Specialist with ADB’s Central and West Asia Department. The project is the first phase of a larger rail network planned for the country, including links to Herat, Tajikistan and Pakistan and is part of CAREC’s broad push to improve connectivity throughout the region, supporting growth and cutting poverty.

Security remains an ongoing concern in Afghanistan and while the project area is deemed relatively safe, the Government has pledged to provide all necessary security support. The project will also bring environmental benefits with double-stack containers helping increase fuel efficiency.

To overcome past problems linked to transport projects, such as cost overruns and delays, the Government will be entering into direct contracts with Uzbekistan Railways Company, both for the engineering, procurement and construction of the new facilities, and for their operation and maintenance. The decision to relax normal procurement procedures is justified by the fact that the new railway will be a de-facto extension of the company’s current line from Termez in Uzbekistan to Hairatan; it does not require investments in new rolling stock; there are no comparable companies in the region capable of designing, building, operating and maintaining a line based on the Uzbekistan system; and the company has proprietary preliminary designs, which accelerates project readiness, saving considerable time and costs.

ADB’s grant covers 97% of the total project cost of $170 million, with the Government contributing $5 million. The Ministry of Public Works will be the executing agency, with June 2011 the estimated completion date.
Source: Asian Development Bank, 2009-09-30

Hayratan to Mazar-i-Sharif project details

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

Asian Development Bank has details of the Hairatan to Mazar-e-Sharif Railway Project. “Interesting to see it all in one place” says Michael G Erickson who spotted it.

The Hairatan to Mazar-e-Sharif railway link is part of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program. It fits with Transport Corridors 3 and 6, which connect Central Asia to South Asia and the region to the Caucasus and the Middle East. Although the road between Hairatan and Mazar-e-Sharif has been improved, it cannot meet national and regional traffic needs. A railway from Hairatan to Mazar-e-Sharif will (i) improve links between Afghanistan and neighboring countries, as well as nearby seaports; and (ii) develop an integrated transport network that caters for different cargo.

The existing Uzbek railway network stops at the border town of Hairatan. This is a gateway to Afghanistan, but it has reached its full capacity (4,000 tons of cargo per month). The flow of goods from Central Asia to Afghanistan will increase from 25,000 tons to 40,000 tons per month over the next few years. To prevent bottlenecks at the border, the existing Uzbek railway at Hairatan needs to be extended into Afghanistan, in a first intervention, to Mazar-e-Sharif. At a later stage, the railway network will be extended to Herat in the west and Tajikistan in the east. The railway will service commercial and non-military cargo.

The project is a priority one for Afghanistan. It fits with its Railway Development Plan. It is closely linked to ADB’s Country Partnership Strategy for 2009-2013, which identifies the construction and rehabilitation of national roads and railways as a priority. It is also consistent with the CAREC Transport and Trade Facilitation Strategy.

The infrastructure:

The Project outputs will be (i) around 80kms railway line from Hairatan to Mazar-e-Sharif with support facilities including rail/road connections and terminals constructed; (ii) established signaling and management information system; (iii) productive use of available land and social safeguarded; (iv) safeguarded and protected environment along railway corridor; (vi) strengthened institutions and management capacity.
Source: Asian Development Bank

Meanwhile, New rail line between Uzbekistan, Afghanistan to serve strategic purpose, reports Central Asia Online:

The construction of the 67km-long line is included in a memorandum of understanding to expand trade and economic opportunities that was recently signed by Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and the Asian Development Bank.

A technical team from Uzbek Railway is scheduled to arrive in Afghanistan shortly to prepare for construction. The cost of the project is estimated to be US$120 million, an amount that will provided by the Asian Development Bank. Construction is tentatively slated to begin in December.
Source: Central Asia Online, 2009-08-29

Problems with the Northern Supply Network

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

EurasiaNet has an interesting report by Deirdre Tynan, a freelance journalist specialising in Central Asian affairs, which discusses problems with the US plan to supply military forces in Afghanistan by rail from the north. I’ve highlighted some key bits.

The report includes a quote from David Brice, a international railway consultant who was in Afghanistan in 2005 working on a capacity increase and re-equipment study for freight lines.

One puzzling thing is the reference by a Russian Railways spokesman to the widening [of the narrow gauge tracks] at Galaba-Hairaton on the Uzbek-Afghan border. As the Soviet-built railway tracks at Hayratan in Afghanistan are only connected to wider world via the bridge with Uzbekistan, it seems pretty unlikely that the tracks are anything other than the 1520 mm broad gauge used across the former USSR and into some neighbouring countries. There would be little point in having built just the terminal to standard (1435 mm) or even a true narrow gauge.

CENTRAL ASIA: NORTHERN SUPPLY NETWORK FOR AFGHANISTAN HITS SNAGS


Deirdre Tynan 7/23/09

The Northern Distribution Network, an American-assembled logistical pipeline designed to ease and expand the flow of supplies to coalition forces in Afghanistan, is off to a lackluster start.

The land routes for the delivery of non-military goods from Europe to Afghanistan via Central Asia provided just over 250 containers between June 5 and July 14. That total is far short of the number originally envisioned by military planners. During a Senate hearing in March, Gen. Duncan McNabb, the head of TRANSCOM, the military’s transport wing, predicted that the NDN would transport “hundreds of containers” per day.

The existing rail route, which begins in Riga, Latvia, and ends at border points in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, appears to be experiencing bottlenecks and other problems. On June 5, TRANSCOM officials told EurasiaNet, “We have shipped roughly 750 containers of construction material and other general supplies for US forces in Afghanistan through the NDN, which includes the original ’proof of concept’ shipment of about 200 containers. ”

“With the appropriate transit agreements in place, the US Transportation Command began using existing rail and road infrastructure in mid-May,” the Transcom statement added. “It is important to note that no additional construction was necessary and the NDN utilizes commercial companies from origination to destination.”

On July 14, TRANSCOM said, “For obvious operational security reasons, we cannot provide geographic and time-sensitive specifics of moving military cargo. But to update information previously provided, the US has shipped more than 1,000 containers of non-lethal cargo, such as construction materials and other general supplies, along the Northern Distribution Network.”

In June and July, according to publicly available data, only seven containers a day on average were arriving in Afghanistan via the NDN. A commercial source, speaking on condition of anonymity, characterized the performance as “ridiculous.” Railway experts have also questioned whether the Uzbek rail route, which crosses the Afghan border at Termez-Hairaton, is capable of handling the amount of traffic envisioned by the US military and its allies.

David Brice, an international rail consultant who made recommendations on upgrading the capacity of Hairatan two years ago, said the depot remains under-equipped to deal with a large volume of traffic. “There will certainly be a capacity problem in the Termez-Hairatan section, which two years ago was handling its full capacity of three or four trains daily without the US traffic,” Brice said.

“Three-quarters of the terminal area was disused and the working area very badly equipped for its task,” he told EurasiaNet in an interview. “The ideal route for this traffic would be deep sea via Bandar Abbas and the new Iranian rail line being built from Sangan to Herat. It’s a massive problem, though, due to the current political tension between the United States and Iran.”

Given the complexities of overland operations, an air-transit deal for arms and military equipment, struck by Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow in early July, appears to be an important breakthrough. However, America’s partners in the region say similar arrangements with the United States have not been negotiated.

Daniyar Mukataev, a spokesman for the Kazakh Ministry of Transport and Communications said, “There are no agreements or talks between Kazakhstan and the United States on the transit of military cargoes through the territory of Kazakhstan. After reaching agreement with Russia, they now have to talk with Kazakhstan and then with Uzbekistan on the transit of military cargoes. But for the moment the agreement with Russia is just empty words.”

When EurasiaNet asked the US State Department if attempts were being made to secure military transit agreements with the Central Asian states, the press office did not respond directly to the question, referring instead to Under Secretary of State William Burn’s remarks publicized during his early July trip to Central Asia. Burns told reporters in Ashgabat, Astana, Bishkek and Tashkent, that Washington looked forward to “new ways of working together.”

Some regional observers suggest the United States may have underestimated the complexities, both political and logistical, of establishing the NDN. “We have to realize that this network implies crossing of the borders of several states and every transit country is looking out for its own material interests,” said Andrei Grozin, the director of the Central Asia Department at the CIS Institute in Moscow.

“Frankly speaking, this is one of the main reasons why the system is not set up properly and not working well,” Grozin continued. “There are of course objective reasons such as the complexity of the system itself. But, mostly it’s all about the borders, the financial interests of the transit countries, and corruption in these countries.”

Central Asian leaders publicly express concern about the security threats originating from Afghanistan, but, although they don’t say so openly, the NDN is also seen as a lucrative opportunity, Grozin said. “The United States understands that for solving its geopolitical and other problems, it has to pay,” he added.

But many experts are asking: is Washington overpaying? Several indicators would seem to suggest that the Pentagon’s tendency to throw money at the problem is not producing desired results. Not only is the rail network not delivering as expected, financially speaking it’s shaping up as something of a boondoggle.

Russian and Uzbek companies are reorganizing their structures to take maximum advantage of the Pentagon’s commercial approach to the NDN. In a move designed to get the network up and running quickly, defense officials eased tender rules to allow for lucrative contracts to be granted with no competitive oversight. That has seemed to stimulate a feeding frenzy among regional transport entities.

Russian Railways, for example, has confirmed to EurasiaNet that it is seeking a grant from the US government to upgrade the Termez-Galaba-Hairaton border crossing between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan.

A spokesperson for Russian Railways said on July 9, “We can confirm that Russian Railways seriously addresses the issue of modernization at Galaba-Hairaton on the Uzbek-Afghan border to transit American goods from Riga [Latvia] to the border with Afghanistan. Also, a proposal was sent to Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia on the need to involve US participation in the financing of the widening [of the narrow gauge tracks] at Galaba-Hairaton on the Uzbek-Afghan border.”

Neither the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the US State Department would elaborate on the information provided by Russian Railways.

Source:Eurasia Insight 2009-07-23

[Copyright © 2009 Open Society Institute. Reprinted with the permission of the Open Society Institute, 400 West 59th Street, New York, NY 10019 USA, www.EurasiaNet.org]

Hayratan – Mazar-i-Sharif railway plan

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

Text of report by privately-owned Afghan Arzu TV on 18 June, reported by BBC Monitoring South Asia, 2009-06-19.

Rail Road Project to Link North Afghanistan to Uzbekistan

[Presenter] After a short time, new rail road will be built from Uzbekistan to Hayratan border town and from Hayratan to Mazar-e Sharif city, says Minister of Commerce and Industries Wahidullah Shahrani in a meeting with Uzbek railway minister in Hayratan border town. Mr Shahrani said rail road’s designing and technical procedure had been started and will be completed in nine months. He added Asian Development Bank will donate 100m dollars for building the rail road and a logistic station in Mazar-e Sharif city and Uzbekistan will cooperate in its technical procedure.

[Correspondent] Minister of Commerce and Industries Wahidullah Shahrani visited Hayratan border town of Balkh Province to meet Uzbek minister of railway and speak about building a rail road between Uzbekistan and Mazar-e Sharif city. The minister said building a railway from Hayratan border town to Mazar-e Sharif city costs 80-120m dollars, its technical and designing procedure costing 1.2m dollars will be completed after nine months. The project is funded by Asian Development Bank.

[More]

ADB supports railway study

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

A news release from the Asian Development Bank, dated 28 April 2009. ADB has also published Islamic Republic of Afghanistan: Railway Development Study (PDF), with some background and a handy map.

Boost for Afghan Plan to Develop Railway System

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Afghanistan’s push to develop a railway system that will spur economic growth and make the country a key transit and trade route within Asia is to receive support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

ADB has approved a technical assistance grant of US$1.2 million to fund a feasibility study for two key railway routes in the north of the country. The focus will be on railway lines linking northern Afghanistan with neighboring Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Land-locked Afghanistan has seen major improvements in its road network in recent years, with support from ADB. However, only half the roads that connect 24 provinces in the country are serviceable throughout the year and the system remains inadequate, inefficient and, in some places, unsafe. Rail provides a more reliable and cost-effective option for moving people and goods, and can help Afghanistan unlock its significant mineral, industrial and agricultural wealth.

An expanded rail system will also help Afghanistan realize its strategic potential as a gateway linking Central, South Asia and the Middle East, and supports the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) group of countries’ transport corridors program.

“The technical assistance support for an expanded rail system will help boost sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction in the country, as well as fostering regional cooperation by boosting intra and interregional trade along the CAREC transport corridors,” says Manzoor Rehman, Senior Transport Specialist in ADB’s Central and West Asia Department. “It will enhance Afghanistan’s economic competitiveness and provide all-year accessibility to its neighbors.”

Feasibility studies will be carried out on two proposed railway lines linking Hairatan, on the border with Uzbekistan, to Herat, in west Afghanistan, and another starting at Shirkhan Bendar, on the border with Tajikistan, and traveling via Kunduz and Mazar-e-Sharif to Herat. ADB will assess long-term traffic demand, and the rail sector’s potential capacity, before making recommendations to the Government on the two routes.

The total project cost is estimated at $1.26 million with the government making an in-kind contribution equivalent to $60,000. The Ministry of Public Works will be the Executing Agency.

Since 2002, ADB has approved financial support of over $600 million for Afghanistan’s transport and communications sector, mostly for roads. This is over 40% of ADB’s overall assistance to the country and around 25% of all donor financing for Afghanistan’s roads. The new technical assistance grant is included in the ADB’s 2009 pipeline for nonlending products and services for Afghanistan, as set out in the ADB’s Country Partnership Strategy: Afghanistan, 2009-2013.
Source: Asian Development Bank 2009-04-28

Termez to Mazar-i-Sharif construction started?

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

A 26 February 2009 report in Pakistan’s Daily Times quotes Uzbekistan’s president Islam Karimov as having said the previous day that a railway is being built to Mazar-i-Sharif:

“Uzbekistan has agreed to allow non-military, I underline, non-military cargo to be transited through Uzbek territory to Afghanistan, in accordance with existing Uzbek legislation,” Karimov told reporters. “Uzbekistan is participating in the development of the communication and transport infrastructure of Afghanistan. We’ve started a construction project on a railway from the (Uzbek) city of Termez to (the northern Afghan city of) Mazar-e Sharif,” he said.
Source: Daily Times 2009-02-26

Termez is the nearest Uzbek city to the Friendship Bridge, and Uzbek Railways already operates to the freight terminal at Hayratan just inside Afghanistan. An extension of the line on to Mazar-i-Sharif has long been proposed, but is it really happening? I can’t spot anything (in English) on the presidential website, and the quote doesn’t seem to appear in other versions of essentially the same story.

Military transport routes to Afghanistan

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

An interesting 17 February 2009 article from Der Spiegel about the problems of supplying military forces in Afghanistan. This problem is nothing new of course – various armies over the centuries have faced it before.

Allies Struggle to Find Safer Supply Routes

By Dieter Bednarz, Rüdiger Falksohn and Alexander Szandar

The Taliban has staged repeated attacks on Afghanistan’s perilous Khyber Pass against trucks loaded with NATO supplies. The international security forces, including Germany’s Bundeswehr, are scrambling to find safer routes – and might even consider one through Iran.

Interesting bits

  • Three-quarters of all the military equipment and goods for Afghanistan goes through Karachi.
  • Germany is the only NATO country with permission to transport war materiel through Russia by rail. But other countries, including Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, have refused permits so no trains have actually run.

The Bundeswehr has also looked into the feasibility of building additional stretches of track in Afghanistan. There are already 20-year-old plans from the days of the Soviet occupation. The railroad could connect the border town of Hairatan with Mazar-e-Sharif, 67 kilometers away. Thanks to a bridge built in 1982 across the Amu Darya River, which serves as the border between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, Hairatan has a direct connection to the rail network in Termes.

The financing is still up in the air, though. But given that the project would both make it easier to bring supplies to NATO troops and promote the region’s economy, military officials hope to receive funds from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and international organizations. For example, the Asian Development Bank plans to prepare a feasibility study with the support of the Uzbek government.

In December, a privately owned Uzbek railroad company, which already operates in Afghanistan’s Herat Province, contacted the German Embassy in Kabul. According to a confidential report the embassy sent to the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin, the Uzbek company “would like to work with German companies” to implement projects sponsored by the development bank.
Source: Der Spiegel

Hayratan – Herat railway memorandum signed

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

Uzbek Railways TEM2 loco at Hayratan (photo: David Brice)

Asian Development Bank announces that a memorandum has been signed highlighting the importance of developing a railway line to Mazar-i-Sharif and Herat from the current Uzbekistan railways railhead at Hairatan. The Afghan government has requested technical and financial assistance from ADB for a pre-feasibility study.

It was recently reported by Der Spiegel that the German military is allegedly interested in building a long-planned railway extension from Hayratan to Mazar-i-Sharif. Meanwhile, Herat will be the terminus of a line currently being built from Iran, offering the possibility of an Uzbekistan to Iran route; Uzbekistan and Iran also recently signed co-operation agreements.

In the past railway proposals for Afghanistan seem to have focused on the south of the country, with international lines to Pakistan, but current plans seem to be oriented north and west.

The gauge question will presumably rear its head with any Uzbekistan – Iran link, as the Iranian line will be standard gauge (1435 mm), but the existing line from Uzbekistan to Hayratan is 1520 mm broad gauge. Putting the break-of-gauge in Herat could be the obvious answer?

Uzbekistan and Afghanistan have also agreed Rules for Passenger Transport & Freight Accounts for the Uzbekistan-Afghanistan Railway. The reference to passengers is interesting, as I’ve not heard of Afghanistan having a passenger service since the demise of the Kabul to Darulaman steam line. Perhaps cross-border passenger services are planned – or maybe it is just a formallity, and they thought they may as well include passengers when working out the details of freight transport?

Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and ADB Sign Memorandum of Understanding for Railway Transport Cooperation

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN – Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to expand trade and economic opportunities through railway transport.

The MOU, signed on the eve of the Seventh annual Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Ministers’ Conference in the Azerbaijan capital, recognizes the potential for growth in railway freight traffic, including transit freight traffic, between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan.

“With the MOU, we will be taking a major step toward realizing the dream of expanded trade and economic opportunities for larger Central Asia,” said Mr Zhao Xiaoyu, ADB Vice-President (Operations 2). Afghanistan Minister of Finance, Dr Anwar-Ul-Haq Ahady and Uzbekistan Minister for Foreign Economic Relations, Investment and Trade, Mr Elyor Ganiev signed on behalf of their governments.

With the MOU, the Afghanistan Government underlined the importance of developing a railway line between the Afghan cities of Hairatan which borders Uzbekistan through Mazar-e-Sharif and Herat. The Afghanistan Government has requested technical and financial assistance from ADB in order to prepare a pre-feasibility study for the proposed railway project. Uzbekistan will give its full cooperation in the conduct of the study.

A Project Working Group, comprising representatives from both countries will supervise the study and explore other regional cooperation initiatives between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan in the field of transport and trade facilitation.

Transport sector development is vital for sustained growth and poverty reduction in this landlocked region and railways are a critical part of the transport sector in the region.

In support of the initiative, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan recently signed the Uzbekistan-Afghanistan Boundary Railway Agreement; the Freight Transportation Rules for the Uzbekistan-Afghanistan Railway; and Rules for Passenger Transport and Freight Accounts for the Uzbekistan-Afghanistan Railway.

The Asian Development Bank is a multilateral development bank, owned by 67 member countries. ADB’s main instruments for developing its member countries are policy dialogue, loans, equity investments, guarantees, grants and technical assistance. This year ADB adopted Strategy 2020, a long-term strategic framework that follows three complementary strategic agendas: inclusive growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration.

Further information about the ADB and CAREC can be found at http://www.adb.org/carec

Source: Asian Development Bank news release 20 November 2008

Developing Afghanistan – Uzbekistan transport links

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

A press release from Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs detailing reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, including the development of rail and other transport links via the Friendship Bridge and Hayratan.

At the end it gives a few more details of the official visit to Uzbekistan by an Afghan delegation back in August.

On participation of the Republic of Uzbekistan in post-war reconstruction of Afghanistan

27.10.2008 19:46 Press-Release

On participation of the Republic of Uzbekistan in post-war reconstruction of Afghanistan

Uzbekistan is taking an active part in efforts of international community aimed at enhancing stability and thorough development of Afghanistan, and attaches a significant importance to friendly and good neighborly relations with this country. It is conditioned not only by common borders but also by mutual interest of cooperation in the name of ensuring peace, stability and progress in the region.

In December 2002, the Government of Uzbekistan with a view to ensure effective provision of aid rendered by the world community to Afghanistan, adopted a resolution on opening the Hayraton bridge at the Uzbek-Afghan border. In November 2003, Ayritom customs complex started operating in Termez city.

On the outcomes of 2007, the volume of humanitarian cargo going via Ayritom check-point accounted for 1.2 million tons.

Upon the request of Afghan Government, Uzbekistan constructed 11 bridges between the cities of Mazari-Sharif and Kabul. These communication facilities have ensured uninterrupted link between the North and East of the country at the initial stage of economic reconstruction of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

Power supply to Afghanistan was restored at the beginning of 2002. In 2007 Uzbekistan exported 20 megawatt of electricity to Afghanistan. Following commissioning of Hayraton – Puli Humri– Kabul power line the volume of power supply to Afghanistan can be increased at the initial stage up to 150 megawatt and eventually up to 300 megawatt.

In June last year the Protocol of Negotiations between Uzbekenergo State Joint-Stock Company and the Ministry for Energy and Water Resources of Afghanistan was signed. The document has defined concrete directions of cooperation for increasing the volumes of power supply to Afghanistan up to 300 megawatt.

In June 2007, the first session of Uzbek-Afghan Intergovernmental commission for trade and economic cooperation was held as a part of the efforts of both sides aimed at extending the scope of bilateral cooperation.

Uzbekistan is rendering all possible assistance to Afghanistan in restoring its national economic system. Particularly, Uzbekistan has been supplying to Afghanistan fuel, construction materials, metal-roll, fertilizers, foodstuff, etc.

The volume of trade between countries is steadily increasing. In 2006 it accounted for USD 163.7 million, including exports – USD 161.7 million and imports – USD 2.0 million.

In 2007 the trade totaled USD 332.3 million, including exports – USD 331.4 million and imports USD 0.9 million.

Currently, 122 companies with participation of Afghan business people are operating in Uzbekistan, of them 39 have been established at the expense of 100% foreign capital.

Uzbekistan and Afghanistan have established quite active political dialogue. For over the last two years the first Vice-President of Afghanistan, Chairman of Senate, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Energy, Minister of Trade, as well as the Adviser to President of Afghanistan for national security visited Uzbekistan.

In 2008 the Afghan delegation led by Minister of Energy and Water Economy of Afghanistan visited Uzbekistan twice.

The sides have discussed construction of 200 kilovolt-capacity, 43-km-long power line starting from Surkhan (Surkhandarya Province) substation to Hayraton (Afghanistan).

Construction works shall be carried out by the Uzbek side.

On August 26-27 this year the first round of talks between the delegations of two countries was held in Tashkent. The prospects of Uzbek-Afghan cooperation on constructing Hayraton-Mazari-Sharif railroad have been discussed in the course of the meeting.
Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Uzbekistan

Uzbek and Iranian railways’ Afghanistan plans

Posted on by Andrew Grantham

The website of Uzbek national railway UTY has a news story about the recent agreement with Islamic Republic of Iran Railways. Google’s translation from Russian gives:

30-10-2008 October 28, TG

Tehran had a meeting and talks executive director of Iranian railways, Hassan Ziyari with the chairman of the board GAZHK Uzbekistan Temir YULLARI Achilbaem Ramatovym.

At the meeting the parties focused on specific issues expand bilateral cooperation in rail transport. In particular, the parties agreed on the establishment of private transport companies, which will transit rail transport, and joint investments in rail transport corridor project, which will link the railways of Iran and Uzbekistan through Afghanistan.
Source: UTY

Iran’s Press TV gives more details:

Iran, Uzbekistan sign railway pact

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 23:30:25 GMT

Iran and Uzbekistan have signed a nine-article cooperation pact on railway cooperation after holding a two-day meeting in Tehran.

The agreement was finalized between the managing directors of the national railway companies of Iran and Uzbekistan Thursday.

The pact includes initiating a container train transit route between Almaty, Tashkent, and Istanbul, launching a container train route between Tashkent and Bandar Abbas, a 25 percent discount to be granted to Iran for using Uzbek carriages, the passage of Iranian railroad cars through the Uzbek network and settling outstanding accounts between Iran-Uzbekistan railways

[…]

“Establishing private transit transportation companies and joint investments in launching railway networks among Iran, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan will allow Uzbekistan access to the Persian Gulf waterway,” Ziyari added.

[…]

Read in full at Press TV

While looking for more information, I came across Helmut Uttenthaler’s Trains in Uzbekistan blog.