Moscow hosts 2nd Caspian Economic Forum

Kazakhstan has ambitious plans to launch cross-border hubs capable of increasing the potential of the North-South and East-West transport corridors, Kazakh Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov announced at a plenary meeting of the Second Caspian Economic Forum held in Moscow. The Head of the Cabinet of Ministers stressed the need to develop and concurrently resolve bottlenecks on the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route to broaden the cargo flow between Europe, Central Asia and China.

“These are the Aktau and Kuryk seaports, the Khorgos dry port, the International Centre for Industrial Cooperation “Central Asia” and others. These hubs contribute to the increase in the flow of goods to the countries of the Caspian region, and then to international markets. In this regard, an initiative of the Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to establish a Caspian food hub is of great importance. It can become a major transport and logistics center in the Aktau port and the central hub on the India – Persian Gulf countries – Iran – Kazakhstan – Russia route,” said Smailov.

The Caspian Sea region unites five countries – Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia and Turkmenistan. They account for almost 13 percent of the global energy exports, while the mutual trade of the five states has grown by 66 percent over the past six years.