PESHAWAR: The Pak-Afghan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI) has hailed signing of the trilateral agreement to build rail link from Pakistan to Uzbekistan via Afghanistan.

“The project will facilitate regional, transit, and bilateral trade among the participating countries besides supporting both passenger and freight services,” stated the PAJCVI senior vice president Ziaul Haq Sarhadi in a statement here on Saturday.

Zia Sarhadi, who is also executive member of Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), said it was a very welcoming development that a railway link would be developed for connecting Afghanistan and central Asian states with sea ports of Pakistan, terming the railway corridor as a major milestone in advancing regional connectivity and economic integration.

It merits a mention that on July 16, 2025, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan signed the framework agreement in Kabul, on the joint feasibility study for the Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (UAP) railway project.

“This strategic railway line, approximately 681 kilometers long, will pass through Afghanistan and connect central Asian countries to the markets of South Asia, providing a new and shorter trade route between North and South Asia,” Zia added.

He said the agreement for laying railway line was reached between the three countries in 2023, which will pass through Termiz in Uzbekistan, Mazar-i-Sharif and Logar in Afghanistan and enter Pakistan via the Kharlachi border crossing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He expressed the hope that the project on completion would usher in a trade revolution in the region by economically benefitting all the partners besides other countries and people, as it was likely to generate billions of dollars in annual revenue and create thousands of direct and indirect job opportunities in the region.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2025