The Ministry of Energy of Uzbekistan and the Afghan state energy company Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) have signed agreements on infrastructure development worth a total of $243 million.
In particular, the following major projects have been approved:
During the ceremony, DABS CEO Abdul Bari Omar called these four agreements vital for ensuring a reliable power supply in Afghanistan.
An agreement was also signed between DABS and Uzbek companies for the supply of electricity for a period of 10 years.
For reference: Uzbekistan has been supplying electricity to Afghanistan since 2002. Last December, Uzbekistan extended its agreement to export electricity to Afghanistan until 2025. Afghanistan imports 80% of its electricity from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Iran, with the rest produced domestically.
On July 24, the Ministry of Energy of Uzbekistan, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), and Uzbekneftegaz signed a production sharing agreement (PSA).
The document provides for geological exploration and further production of hydrocarbons in investment blocks of the Ustyurt oil and gas region.
Within the framework of the PSA, 3D seismic exploration is planned to be carried out on an area of at least 1,000 square kilometers. If a commercial deposit is discovered, the parties will proceed to its development and production.
“The partnership with SOCAR reflects New Uzbekistan’s strategic desire to diversify its sources of investment and introduce best international practices. The Ustyurt region has high potential, and the signing of the PSA opens up new horizons for its effective development. We are confident that this project will be an important driver of technological progress and economic growth,” said Minister of Energy Dzhurabek Mirzamahmudov.
“The signing of this agreement is evidence of our long-term strategy for the development of the energy sector in Central Asia and the Caspian region. SOCAR is enthusiastic about implementing the project, applying its accumulated experience and advanced technological solutions,” said SOCAR President Rovshan Najaf.
Uzbekneftegaz Chairman Bakhodir Sidikov said the agreement would strengthen the company’s position as a “reliable and innovation-oriented partner open to international cooperation and large-scale investments.”
In May 2018, Uzbekneftegaz SOCAR and BP Exploration (Caspian Sea) signed a memorandum proposing that the companies consider joint geological exploration of the Aralmore, Samsko-Kosbulak, and Baiterek investment blocks in the Ustyurt district.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has dismissed Mykola Doroshenko from the post of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Uzbekistan by decree No. 506/2025.
At the moment the decree on appointment of a new ambassador to this post has not been published. Thus, the diplomatic mission of Ukraine in Tashkent temporarily remains without a head.
Diplomatic relations between Ukraine and Uzbekistan were established in 1992.
UzTemiRContainer, part of Uzbekistan Temir Yulary, held talks with a number of Asian logistics operators on the development of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan-Afghanistan multimodal corridor on the sidelines of the Investment and Trade Fair in Lanzhou, China.
The meeting was held in a quadrilateral format with the participation of Gansu International Logistics Group, the Afghan diplomatic mission in China, and Xinjiang Union of International Railway Logistics.
The key topics were the launch of return container shipments from Afghanistan and Uzbekistan to China, increasing the route’s capacity, and developing logistics infrastructure in Central Asia, including the construction of terminals in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.
On the sidelines of the forum, a separate bilateral meeting between representatives of Uztemiryulcontainer and Gansu International Logistics Group took place, during which the parties visited the facilities of the international dry port in Lanzhou.
They inspected container and bulk terminals, car handling areas, and a refrigeration complex for working with refrigerated containers. The delegation from Uzbekistan also familiarized itself with Gansu’s digital solutions in the field of logistics management.
Following the talks, the companies announced the launch of a pilot container route between China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan/Turkmenistan. The first train is scheduled to depart in the third quarter of 2025.
The parties confirmed their intentions to expand cooperation in the field of multimodal transport and expressed their readiness to increase the volume of container transport in the Eurasian direction by at least 1.5 times by 2030.
Foreign Ministers of Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan Bakhtiyor Saidov, Amir Khan Muttaki and Ishaq Dar signed a trilateral framework agreement on the development of a feasibility study for the Trans-Afghanistan Railway project during a meeting in Kabul on Thursday.
“We have signed a trilateral framework agreement on the development of a feasibility study for the Trans-Afghanistan-Pakistan Railway project, which is of strategic importance for the whole of Eurasia,” the Uzbek Foreign Minister said in his telegram channel.
He noted that this transportation corridor will improve trade, support Afghanistan’s economic recovery, and open new routes to world markets through southern ports.
According to Saidov, during the meeting, the Uzbek side reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening trade ties, expanding cooperation in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, textiles and construction, as well as increasing the capacity of the Termez International Trade Center (opened in Uzbekistan near the Afghan border).
As reported, in February 2021, representatives of Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan signed a joint action plan for the construction of the Mazar-e-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar railway with a length of 573 kilometers and a transit potential of up to 20 million tons of cargo per year following talks in Tashkent.
The World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) have expressed interest in financing the project.
In April 2024, during Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s visit to Moscow, a preliminary agreement was reached on Russia’s participation in the project. The volume of Russian cargo transportation along the projected route can be estimated at 8-15 million tons annually.
According to the Ministry of Transport of Uzbekistan, the construction of the Trans-Afghan railway line will take at least 5 years, with a preliminary cost of $4.8 billion.
AFGHANISTAN, CONSTRUCTION, PAKISTAN, Trans-Afghan railroad, UZBEKISTAN