Uzbekistan President says returning the frozen assets including gold and foreign exchange to the current authorities will help ease the social situation in Afghanistan.
Tashkent
Uzbekistan proposes returning Afghanistan’s gold and foreign exchange reserves to the Taliban. This was stated by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev at the summit of the Organization of Turkic States in the Azerbaijani city of Shusha.
In his opinion, returning the frozen assets to the current authorities will help ease the social situation in Afghanistan.
At present, Afghanistan’s gold and foreign exchange reserves amount to about $9.4 billion.
This is not Tashkent’s first call to return Afghan funds from foreign banks. Mirziyoyev made a similar proposal in 2021, speaking at the SCO summit in Dubai.
At that time, $7 billion of the Central Bank of Afghanistan was held in American financial institutions. However, Washington decided to keep the money in the banks.
The reasoning of the Uzbek leader is similar to the rhetoric of three years ago. In 2021, he noted that unfreezing the assets could alleviate the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan. At the OTS summit, Shavkat Mirziyoyev emphasized that it would help ease the social situation in the country.
The President of Uzbekistan also added that Tashkent will continue to provide necessary assistance to the Afghan people:
In April 2024, 169 tons of food were delivered from Uzbekistan to the Balkh province;
In May, the region received 100 specially equipped tents and 96 water storage containers in addition to food.
Afghanistan is gradually becoming not only a recipient of humanitarian aid but also an economic partner of Uzbekistan. On July 8, it became known that Kabul and Tashkent extended the contract for the reconstruction of the Hayratan-Mazar-i-Sharif railway line for six months.
He noted that in Afghanistan, where millions of Turkic people live, the leader of Uzbekistan especially emphasized the importance of developing common and unified approaches to this issue by the member states of the organization.
“On its part, Uzbekistan will continue to provide necessary assistance to the Afghan people. We are convinced that the return of Afghanistan’s frozen financial assets abroad will help ease the social situation in this country,” emphasized Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
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Courtesy: Central Asian Light (Posted on July 9, 2024)
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