EU plans to invest in development of Trans-Caspian International Transport Route

The European Union plans to invest in the development of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, Kazakh Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development Kairbek Uskenbayev announced at a ministerial meeting on the further development of the Trans-Caspian Route held in Aktau. Uskenbayev noted that in a ten-month period about 1.5 million tonnes of cargo were transported via this corridor, which is twice as much compared to the same period last year. Kazakhstan is currently taking measures to expand the capacity of the international route. In this regard, work is underway on the domestic container and ferry fleet replenishment, as well as the simplification of border crossing procedures.

“Kazakhstan has already started work on its part. A week ago, the Prime Minister gave a start to the construction of the Dostyk-Moiynty railway section with a length of 836 km. This will increase the rail capacity along this route almost fivefold. We are currently working on opening a third border crossing to transport a larger amount of cargo from China. As a result, we are planning to increase it to 20 million tonnes. We are also developing a program for the construction of ferries, tankers, and infrastructure in the Aktau port,” Uskenbayev said.

It bears noting that the meeting was attended by the Foreign Ministers of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, as well as the ministers in charge of transport in the respective countries.