Afghan, Pakistani Leaders Back Regional Power Project.

"Presidents Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan gave crucial support Friday to a World Bank-backed $680 million regional electricity transmission project.... The two leaders issued a joint statement backing the Central Asia-South Asia electricity transmission and trade project -- code named CASA 1000 -- after talks in Washington with World Bank President Robert Zoellick...." [Agence France Presse (5/8)/Factiva]

UzReport.com adds that "...this is the first phase of a program to create a regional electricity market by facilitating electricity trade between the energy-resource rich countries of Central Asia, and the energy-deficit countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan in South Asia. A transmission link from Uzbekistan to Afghanistan was opened recently, and the planned CASA 1000 project will link Tajikistan and Kyrgyz Republic to South Asia...." [UzReport.com (Uzbekistan, 5/11)/Factiva]

Pajhwok Afghan News writes that "...the presidents recognized that the completion of CASA 1000... will catalyze additional energy investments and trade both in the four CASA countries as well as in the region. It could have a positive demonstration effect on other regional infrastructure projects between Afghanistan and Pakistan, such as the upgrading of the Peshawar-Kabul Road and the Peshawar-Kabul Rail Link, they believed...." [Pajhwok Afghan News (Afghanistan, 5/9)/Factiva]