By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: In a major development, operations of a freight train between Pakistan and Turkey will be resumed on 4th of March after a pause of over nine years.
According to a spokesperson for the Ministry of Railways, a cargo train will start its journey from Istanbul for Islamabad via Zahidan on 4th of March.
The freight train will complete its one-side trip in 12 days and is expected to reach the Islamabad dry port on 16th of March. Federal Minister for Railways Azam Khan Swati will also be present at the railway station on the occasion, said the officials. The cargo train will depart for Istanbul on 19th of March. It is pertinent to mention here that rail service will connect Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul (ITI), minimizing the time period of cargo travel to these countries. It will help boost trade among these countries.
The total length of the ITI project is 6500 km which covers 2600 km distance in Iran, 1950 km in Turkey, and 1990 km in Pakistan.
Earlier on January 13, Pakistan and Turkey had agreed on continuing efforts for further enhancing bilateral trade and economic relations. The foreign ministers of both countries had held delegation-level talks in Islamabad that day.
During a meeting between FM Shah Mehmood Qureshi and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, both sides had shown agreement to pursue a joint strategy at the international level on the matters of mutual interests besides stressing for efforts to protect Islamic values amid the rising trend of Islamophobia.
