DUSHANBE, October 29, 2010, Asia-Plus — A meeting of transport ministers of Tajikistan, Afghanistan, China, Iran and Kyrgyzstan that was expected to be held in Dushanbe today has not taken place.
According to the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) of Tajikistan, the transport ministers of the mentioned countries did not arrive. The source refrained from clarifying the reason.
He just added that only experts from the transport ministries of China, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Iran arrived in Dushanbe yesterday. “During two days, they jointly with their Tajik colleagues have discussed the construction of the rail link connecting their countries and creation of international transport corridors,” the source said.
The source at the Iranian Embassy in Dushanbe told Asia-Plus today that Iran”s Minister of Roads and Transport Hamid Behbahani could not arrive in Tajikistan because of unforeseen circumstances.
We will recall that Tajik Minister of Transport and Communication Olimjon Boboyev, Kyrgyz Minister of Transport and Communications Erkin Isakov, Chinese Minister of Transport Li Shenglin, Iranian Minister of Roads and Transport Hamid Behbahani and Afghan Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation Daoud Ali Najafi were supposed to gather in the Tajik capital to discuss the construction of the rail link connecting China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Iran and financial aspects of the project.
Iran’s news agency, IRNA, reported yesterday that Director of Transport and Communications of the Economic Cooperation Organization (OIC) Mohammad Mirzaei said more than 4.3 billion U.S. dollars would be spent for implementation of that 2,300-kilometer railway construction project. He underlined that the railway would connect China to Europe via Iran and Turkey.
