Mitsuji Suzuka, Ambassador of Japan to Afghanistan, on Monday said his country wound fund the second phase of the Livelihood Improvement Project in Tajik-Afghan Cross-border Areas (LITACA).

Based on this commitment, Japan will provide more than $9 million USD for the project to improve the livelihoods of people in bordering areas between Afghanistan and Tajikistan. 

He said the project would incorporate infrastructure development for agricultural projects to help boost the economy among locals in the bordering areas. 

The second phase of the project which will start next year will cover bordering districts in Kunduz, Balkh, Takhar and Badakhshan provinces of Afghanistan.

The Livelihoods Improvement in Tajik-Afghan Cross-border Areas (LITACA) project will be overseen by United Nations Development Program and the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development.

“Since 2014 onwards, Japan in collaboration with UNDP has implemented an agricultural development project in mountainous areas between Afghanistan and Tajikistan which have a low income and have no infrastructure,” the Japanese envoy said.

“LITACA aims to improve the living standards and promote stability and security in the bordering provinces of Tajikistan and Afghanistan,” said Jaslin Mesen, head of UNDP in Afghanistan. 

According to the rural rehabilitation and development ministry, the first part of the project will enable bordering districts’ residents to have access to infrastructure for irrigation, water reservoirs, electricity and local bazars.

Meanwhile, Tajikistan Ambassador in Afghanistan Sharafuddin Imam said the bordering areas between Afghanistan and Tajikistan have become a symbol of friendship between the two neighboring countries.

“With the help of the Japanese government, we reconstructed Qorghan Tepa Highway which helped us increase our trade relations with Afghanistan,” he said.