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Showun, Shurobod District, Tajikistan, 31 October 2011 — Mawlana Hazar Imam, together with the President of Tajikistan, His Excellency Emomali Rahmon, and Afghanistan’s Minister of Public Works His Excellency Abdulkudus Hamidi, performed the foundation-stone ceremony for the Shurobod Bridge today. The bridge is the fifth to be built in partnership with the Aga Khan Development Network, and will connect the Shurobod District of Khatlon Region in Tajikistan with the Khohon Province of Afghanistan.

Since 2002, AKDN has constructed four bridges — at Darwaz, Tem, Ishkashim and Vanj. Today they serve as primary transport links between Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badakhshan Oblast and northern Afghanistan, and are key conduits for humanitarian assistance, commerce and socio-cultural exchange in these remote and isolated areas.

Mawlana Hazar Imam, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and Afghan Minister of Public Works Abdulkudus Hamidi pause for a photograph with the children gathered for the foundation ceremony of the Shurobod Bridge. Photo: Courtesy of Tajikistan Presidential Photographer
Mawlana Hazar Imam, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and Afghan Minister of Public Works Abdulkudus Hamidi pause for a photograph with the children gathered for the foundation ceremony of the Shurobod Bridge. Photo: Courtesy of Tajikistan Presidential Photographer
“What you are doing today is setting a remarkable example of people coming together for a common purpose across frontiers,” said Mawlana Hazar Imam, who was thanking the governments of Tajikistan and Afghanistan, “and that common purpose is to improve the quality of life of every individual in those societies.”

“Across frontiers, you can build best practice in education, in healthcare, in economic development, in financial institutions, in rural activity, and it is this capacity to bring the best of society together for the benefit of all the people that I think is the most important lesson that we have today,” continued Hazar Imam.

When completed, the Shurobod Bridge will connect rural, mountainous and isolated communities living along the borders of Tajikistan and Afghanistan. The bridge is expected to increase the livelihoods of these communities by stimulating cross-border commercial trade as well as the development of infrastructure on the Afghan side.