Growing economic power of Central Asia and South Asia to entail Afghanistan’s speedy recovery
Rapid growth of South Asian and Central Asian economies as well as mutual drive for regional economic cooperation can bring vital benefits to Afghanistan. This message is traced in the analytical article «How to secure the Afghan hub» by former economic counselor at the Embassy of Afghanistan to USA Shakib Noori, published recently in online commentary portal DailyO.
The matter is railway corridor, which links China with Iran via Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, as well as a number energy projects such as electricity transmission system CASA-1000, future gas main Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) and Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TUTAP) electricity transmission line.
All of them “heavily foreshadow the significant geo-economic shifts to occur in the near future,” believes expert.
At the same time, Afghanistan, occupying favorable position, will play interlink role between “two emerging economic powers – Central Asia and South Asia”, that would eventually will allow Afghanistan to overcome its historical instability.
Another initiative, highlighted in the article is CASAREM – “Central Asia - South Asia Regional Electricity Market”, which is a concept for developing electricity trade among the countries of the two regions through a set of projects and associated investments, supported by the relevant institutional arrangements and legal agreements.
The mentioned projects will generate for Afghanistan’s budget stable revenue flow in the form of transit fees and duties raised from the using roads, pipelines and transmission lines.
The analyst predicts the growth of GDP of all Eurasian countries, referring to UN estimates that within a decade, formation of new energy markets, coupled with construction of transnational infrastructure will lift the GDP of Afghanistan and Central Asian countries by 50 %. In turn, that mean the reliable job market, creation of new business enterprises, that will entail subsequent annual GDP growth.
“A successful, secure connectivity of the transnational links among South and Central Asia, and China, via Afghanistan, would revive the country’s historical and natural hub position in the region. The sooner this happens, the better for the country”, concludes the author.
