The national electricity companies of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan Turkmenenergo and Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) signed an agreement in Ashgabat extending the contract for Turkmen electricity supplies to 2023, the Afghan Ministry of Water and Electricity Affairs said on its Twitter page on Monday.
"The power supply agreement for 2023 was signed by DABS Director-General Alhaj Muhammad Hanif Hamza and the chairman of Turkmenenergo," the brief said. Minister of Water and Electricity of Afghanistan in the interim Taliban government (the Taliban movement is banned in the Russian Federation) Abdul Latif Mansur also attended the signing ceremony. The volume and cost of the electricity supplied is not specified.
For the past few years Turkmenistan has been supplying electricity to the northern regions of Afghanistan at a discounted price. Electricity is also supplied to the country by Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Supplies from Tajikistan take place from May to September, and from Uzbekistan from October to April.
In mid-January, Uzbekistan stopped supplying electricity, explaining that supplies to Afghanistan were temporarily cut off as a result of a fuel shortage and various malfunctions, as well as to ensure a stable supply of electricity to consumers in Uzbekistan during the abnormally cold weather. Uzbekistan's Energy Ministry promised to resume supplies on January 25.
Meanwhile, 104 people have died of hypothermia in Afghanistan over the past two weeks. It is reported that the population is experiencing a shortage of fuel for heating homes, as well as electricity and drinking water, amid a cold snap. The most extreme cold is recorded in the north of Afghanistan.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
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Based on materials from TASS