Afghanistan new transit route for Iranian goods to Central Asia

Mohammad Mahdi Javanmard Qassab told on Saturday that using of Afghanistan's capacity to transit goods to Uzbek and Tajik markets and Iran's access to the two countries' markets is of special significance under the current situation.

"Since Afghanistan is a member of the Carne Tir Convention, Iranian companies can make good use of the capacity of Afghan transport firms to transport goods to Central Asian countries," he said.

Javanmard Qassab said that currently five to six containers or trucks are moving from the Milak border to Afghanistan to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan each week, but this amount of transit goods is very low and should be increased.

Iran will not ignore Afghanistan's capacities in the field, as the two countries share good cultural and economic commonalities, which will be beneficial to both countries in future, he said.

Referring to spread of coronavirus in regional states and closure of borders of the countries, Javanmard Qassab said that under such difficult circumstances, the border between Iran and Afghanistan was not blocked for trade goods and was open.

The advantage of using Afghan route for transit of goods to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan is that when Iranian trucks pass across the Milak border, the goods reach the target countries in four to five days, he said.

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