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ARA signs accord with Iranian counterpart to operate Khaf-Herat railway line
The Afghanistan Railway Authority (ARA) said this week on X that it has signed an agreement with the Iranian Railway Consortium to operate the Khaf-Herat railway line.
According to ARA, Iran will send 100,000 tons of goods via this railway line in the first year of operation. From then on, the volume will increase by 100,000 tons per year.
Bakhtur Rahman Sharaft, the head of the railway authority, said that the construction of the first phase of the 4th section of Khaf-Herat Railway Project will start next week, ARA reported.
Also, with the signing of this contract, transfer of goods will continue normally through Khaf-Herat, while work is done on the 4th section. This line is connected to Turkey and European countries through Iran and the Iranian railway network.
Earlier this year, the first trial run of cargo from Iran to Afghanistan via the Khaf-Herat railway was completed.
This shipment included 17 wagons that transferred 655 tons of railway equipment for the further construction of the rail line.
The Khaf-Herat railway is 225 kilometers long, with 140 km of the railway track traversing Afghanistan and the remaining 85 km running through Iran. The construction of the Khaf-Herat railway line, which links Khaf in eastern Iran with Herat in western Afghanistan, started in 2007. The project has a reported value of $75 million and is being funded by Iran.
Nooruddin Azizi, Minister of Commerce and Industry, says that currently the amount of trade between Kabul and Tehran totals $2 billion per year but they want this trade to grow to $10 billion dollars per year.
A number of members of a visiting Iranian delegation also say that considering the opportunity that has arisen, Afghanistan and Iran should make the most of it for the expansion of trade relations.
Amir Khan Muttaqi, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, also met with the Iranian delegation.
In this meeting, the two sides emphasized the need for more cooperation between the two countries as neighbors.
Muttaqi said that drug production in Afghanistan has been eradicated and the conditions for commercial and economic cooperation are more favorable than before.
Seven Afghan migrants have been killed after a vehicle carrying Afghan migrants collided with a fuel-carrying vehicle in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province.
According to the human rights organization HalVash, the accident occurred on Friday in the Sarbaz area of Sistan and Baluchestan.
Siyavash Mohbi, the head of Iran’s traffic police in Sistan and Baluchestan, said the Afghan nationals had entered Iran illegally.
He added that nine other people were injured in the incident.
Mohbi attributed the accident to the negligence of the driver of the vehicle carrying the migrants.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has announced that its Contact Group on Afghanistan will meet on the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
OIC Secretary-General Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed is leading a high-level delegation from the organization’s General Secretariat to participate in the UN General Assembly’s High-Level Week and hold bilateral meetings with heads of delegations from member states as well as senior UN and international officials.
The OIC will also convene its Annual Coordination Meeting of Member States’ Foreign Ministers at UN Headquarters.
According to the organization, several ministerial contact groups and specialized committees will meet on the sidelines of the General Assembly. These include groups focusing on Palestine, Muslim communities and minorities, regional issues in Europe, Jammu and Kashmir, Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, and Afghanistan.
The OIC did not provide a specific date for the Afghanistan Contact Group meeting.
Ahmad Jan Bilal, General Director of State-Owned Corporations, met with Iran’s Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad during a visit to Iran to discuss expanding cooperation in the oil and gas sector.
Bilal, accompanied by Mohammad Nasir Rahimi, chief executive of the Afghan state-owned Oil and Gas Corporation, held talks with the Iranian minister on supplying Afghanistan with its oil and gas needs, technical and vocational training, and joint cooperation in oil and gas exploration.
Bilal and his delegation also visited the Iranian Oil Ministry’s research center and oil refineries in Tehran, where they reviewed the facilities’ technical and professional activities and capabilities.
The Iranian side expressed readiness for comprehensive cooperation, necessary coordination and implementation of joint projects in the areas discussed.
At the end of the meeting, both sides introduced joint technical teams tasked with coordinating and following up on the necessary measures to implement the agreed areas of cooperation.
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