Date of first delivery of Afghan goods through Lapis Lazuli corridor revealed

TThe Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Afghanistan reported that the first delivery will be of a test character and two containers to be shipped of Afghan carpets and gemstones will go to Turkey and Holland.

The pilot phase will enable the Lapis Lazuli Corridor countries to assess problems and challenges and they will then take the necessary steps to solve the issues, the director of transit and trade facilities at the MoIC Yahya Akhlaqi said.

“At today’s meeting with transport companies, we decided to transfer some of the goods via railway and the rest via truck and ship,” said Akhlaqi.

The International Chamber of Commerce’s country director Abdul Qadir Bahman meanwhile said the Lapis Lazuli Corridor will help traders export and import goods quickly and more cheaply.

Afghanistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Georgia signed an agreement on the creation of the Lapis Lazuli transport corridor which is set to connect the five countries on November 15, 2017.

The trans-regional corridor will encompass mainly railways and highways, which will connect the city of Torghundi in the Afghan province of Herat with the port of Turkmenbashi on the shore of the Caspian Sea via Ashgabat.

From Turkmenbashi, goods will be able to travel further by ferry to Baku, where they would be placed on train cars and continue westward to Europe across the South Caucasus via the newly launched Baku-TbilisiKars railway. Further, the corridor will pass through Tbilisi to Ankara with branches to Poti and Batumi, and, then, from Ankara to Istanbul.

The budget of the project is estimated to exceed $2 billion. Consultations on the creation of the transport corridor began back in 2012. The initiative seeks to improve transport infrastructure and procedures (including for road, rail, and sea), increase exports, and expand the economic opportunities of citizens in countries benefiting from this new transport corridor.