TASHKENT, October 24. /TASS/. The first Agroexpress train with fresh vegetables and fruits is scheduled to depart from Tashkent to Moscow in the second half of November, Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Sardor Umurzakov told reporters.

"Our pilot trip is scheduled in the second half of November. I think all of us will witness this unique event," the official said. Russia and Uzbekistan will continue working on improvements in this project because it will make possible to scale up trade in terms of quantity and quality, Umurzakov noted. "I believe all the preliminary activities will end very soon and we will be able to celebrate the arrival of the first Agroexpress from Tashkent in Moscow in the second half of November," he added.

Umurzakov said he had discussed all the details of the Agroexpress project with Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov during his visit to Uzbekistan. "We finally agreed on all organizational, technical and other sides and aspects of implementation of the Agroexpress project within the framework of our meetings and discussions," the Deputy Prime Minister noted.

Kazakhstan, the country through which the train will travel, also joined the project, Umurzakov said. "This is not a single express [train], this refers to a system we would like to launch," the official noted. Agroexpress will deliver goods from Uzbekistan to Kazakhstan and from Kazakhstan to Russia and the other way around to ensure capacity utilization and efficiency of transportation as much as possible, he added.

The Agroexpress project focuses on accelerated delivery of agricultural produce in refrigerated railcars along the Moscow - Tashkent route. The delivery time of fresh vegetables and fruits from Uzbekistan to Russia and meat and flour products from Russia to Uzbekistan will become shorter.