Friday December 14, 2018 Kabul (BNA) Mohammad Ashraf Ghani President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan opened the Lapis Lazuli Transit, Trade and Transport corridor, a route that includes five other nations and will allow the country to connect with Europe and other parts of the world on Thursday. During the opening ceremony President Ghani in Herat province said, thanks to this new route, which begins at the port of Aqina in the north, Afghan products will be able to reach Europe and other regions more easily. Afghanistan is in favor of the connectivity policy and the opening of the belt is a milestone in this regard, President Ghani added. The Lapis Lazuli corridor connects Afghanistan through Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia with the Black Sea and, on the other hand through Turkey with the Mediterranean Sea and Europe. It is an axis to revive the ancient Silk Road, which focuses on the facilitation of customs operations and transactions of goods. The agreement for its creation was signed in October 2017, after more than three years of negotiations between Afghanistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The name ‘Lapis Lazuli’ derives from the historical route by which the lapis lazuli of Afghanistan and other semiprecious stones were exported, more than two centuries ago to the Caucasus, Russia, the Balkans, Europe and North Africa. M.A.Ansari
