Tajikistan and Turkmenistan have finally managed to reach an agreement on intensification of work on implementation of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan (TAT) railway project.
This issue was discussed at a meeting of the Tajik-Turkmen joint commission for trade and economic cooperation that took place in Dushanbe on October 26, according to Turkmenistan national news agency.
The meeting participants reportedly pointed to the necessity of intensifying work on completion of construction of this rail link connecting three nations.
Last month, Turkmenistan’s Foreign Ministry expressed incomprehension over an interview given by Tajik Ambassador to Uzbekistan Sodiq Ashurboyzoda to Russian media outlet Kommersant. On September 20, Ashourboyoda told Kommersant that Tajikistan decided to indefinitely postpone the TAT railway project. The decision was reportedly taken because improved relations with Uzbekistan mean that the project is no long feasible. The link would have enabled rail traffic to reach Tajikistan without transiting Uzbekistan.
Turkmenistan’s Foreign Ministry said on 22 September that it has formally notified Tajikistan that it did not understand the statement.
Recall, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for construction of the rail link connecting the three countries was signed during a trilateral meeting of the presidents of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan that took place in the Turkmen capital Ashgabat on March 20, 2013.
The 400-kilometer railroad is expected to connect the Afghan town of Akina-Andkhoy to Atamurat-Ymamnazar in Turkmenistan and Panj in Tajikistan.
The presidents of Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan officially inaugurated the construction of the railway connecting the three nations on June 5, 2013. The ceremony took place in Turkmenistan’s northeastern province of Lebap. The presidents buried a time capsule with a message to future generations under the first section of the railway line near the town of Atamyrat.
Meanwhile, optimism about the project dimmed in January 2014. The then head of Tajik Railways Amonullo Hukumatullo announced at a news conference in Dushanbe on January 29, 2014 that Tajikistan and Afghanistan had themselves decided on the route for the Afghan section of the rail. He said the new Afghan section was slightly over 200 kilometers, but shorter than the initial plan and thus would save Tajikistan in transit fees.
The announcement apparently caught Ashgabat by surprise because on January 30, 2014 the Turkmen Foreign Ministry protested that Hukumatullo’s declaration was “tendentious and absolutely unacceptable" and “counterproductive.”
TAT railway will be a part of a broader regional transportation initiative that will open a new transit corridor between Central Asia and world markets through Indian Ocean ports, a route less than half as long as Central Asian existing railway export options through Russia to the Baltic Sea coast. It is expected to diversify the transport routes of Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
