The Kabul Tribune (KT) — Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to cooperate on a proposed railway project linking Central and South Asia through Afghanistan, Kazakhstan’s government said.
The transport ministries of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and
the UAE’s Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure signed a memorandum of
understanding on the Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (CASA) railway
project, according to the statement.
The project aims to establish a new rail route connecting
Central and South Asia and providing access to Pakistani seaports, potentially
expanding opportunities for regional trade, international transport, logistics
and investment.
Under the agreement, the three countries will conduct
technical and economic studies, analytical assessments and feasibility work for
the proposed railway infrastructure and related facilities.
The parties are also considering setting up a joint working
group to examine the project’s technical, economic and financial aspects, the
statement said.
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have established railway networks
and transit infrastructure, while the UAE brings experience in transport
infrastructure, logistics and large-scale investment projects, the government
said.
Combining these capabilities could help advance planning for
the railway and identify ways to implement the project, according to the
statement.
The proposed Trans-Afghan transport corridor is intended to
improve connectivity between Central and South Asia by providing a land route
through Afghanistan to Pakistan’s ports of Karachi and Gwadar.
The corridor has the potential to transport up to 10 million
metric tons of cargo to the Pakistani ports, according to the project
description. However, the agreement announced by Kazakhstan concerns
cooperation and feasibility work; it does not establish a construction
timetable or confirm that the railway will be built.
