On 10 August, as part of a working visit to Afghanistan, the National Leader of the Turkmen people, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty of Turkmenistan, discussed the development of the ‘Lapis Lazuli’ international transport corridor with Abdul Ghani Baradar, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs of Afghanistan. This was reported by TDH.

The parties noted the corridor’s importance for expanding transport and transit links between Central and South Asia, as well as the regions of the Caspian, Black and Mediterranean Seas.

An agreement on the establishment of the ‘Afghanistan–Turkmenistan–Azerbaijan–Georgia–Turkey’ route was signed in Ashgabat in 2017.

Turkmenistan had previously proposed measures to improve the corridor’s efficiency, including the creation of a Single Logistics Centre, the development of infrastructure at cargo dispatch and reception points, the harmonisation of tariff policies, the simplification of customs procedures based on the ‘Single Window’ principle, and the preparation of a digital atlas of the route.