Kyrgyzstan’s Foreign Minister Jeenbek Kulubaev on Tuesday called on Central Asian nations to strengthen cooperation and coordination with regards to Afghanistan.

Speaking at the 13th Annual Meeting of Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Central Asian states, Kulubaev said that the establishment of peace and stability in Afghanistan plays an important role in ensuring regional security and prosperity.

He expressed support for the activities of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and thanked the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan Roza Otunbayeva for her work within the framework of the UNAMA mandate, Kyrgyzstan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Roza Otunbayeva also attended the two-day meeting in Bishkek which ended on Tuesday.

The Islamic Emirate’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid says the construction of the Wakhan corridor road in Badakhshan has started and once complete will have a huge impact on Afghanistan’s economy.

The planned road will directly link Afghanistan with China through the narrow strip of land separating the two countries.

Mujahid said that the leadership of the IEA has taken important steps in the direction of developing the country’s economic relations and is trying to create different transit routes.

According to him, with the construction of this road, Afghanistan’s trade relations will expand.

“The area of the Wakhan road to the Chinese border is 60 km. Currently, the machinery of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Public Works is there and they are being used,” he said.

Meanwhile, officials at the Chamber of Commerce and Investment have asked the IEA to complete the construction of the Wakhan road in Badakhshan as soon as possible so that Afghanistan no longer needs to depend on Pakistan’s transit routes for trade purposes.

“We request the elders of the Islamic Emirate to open the Wakhan port as soon as possible because our trade is 80 to 90 percent with China,” said a member of ACCI.

Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, Political Deputy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has said that the Afghan consulates in Mumbai and Hyderabad are in contact with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul, and the Afghan embassy in New Delhi will soon resume operations.

“Our consulates in Mumbai and Hyderabad are functioning and are in contact with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They provide consular services on a daily basis. Currently, our consuls in Mumbai and Hyderabad are present at the embassy in Delhi. I talked to them. They have reopened the embassy,” Stanikzai said in an interview with RTA that was broadcast on Tuesday night.

Stanikzai said that the Afghan embassy in India will resume its operations in the next two or three days.

Recently, the Afghan embassy in India announced its permanent closure, citing challenges from the Indian government.

Stanikzai in the interview also said that in his opinion, the Islamic Emirate has been recognized because it still has diplomatic relations with the countries it had in the past.

He said that there are currently about 20 embassies operating in Afghanistan.