STORY: Major trade route via Afghanistan-Iran railway opens
DATELINE: July 13, 2023
LENGTH: 00:01:15
LOCATION: HERAT, Afghanistan
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the opening ceremony of a major trade route between Afghanistan and Iran
2. SOUNDBITE (Dari): ZABIHULLAH MUJAHID, Afghan caretaker government chief spokesman

STORYLINE:

A major trade route via railway between Afghanistan and neighboring Iran formally opened in west Afghanistan's Herat province on Tuesday.
   
Speaking on the occasion, the Afghan caretaker government chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid welcomed the step as vital for enhancing economic relations in the region, saying the railway network could connect Afghanistan to Iran onward to Türkiye and Europe.

SOUNDBITE (Dari): ZABIHULLAH MUJAHID, Afghan caretaker government chief spokesman
"Today is the inauguration. The inauguration of commercial goods reached from Türkiye to Afghanistan and it is good that the railway would connect Afghanistan to Europe via the railway and this is the initiation."
   
Mujahid noted that the railway would also transport passengers in the future besides transporting commercial goods.
   
The 225-km-long cross-border Herat-Khaf railway links west Afghanistan's Herat province to neighboring Iran. The fourth part of the railway would be completed in Afghanistan's Herat province within 2023.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Herat, Afghanistan.
(XHTV)