BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 1
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
The usage of multimodal routes is becoming cheaper with the development of modern technologies, including digital ones, Deputy Chairman of the Board of “NC KAZAKH INVEST” JSC Zhandos Temirgali said this in an interview with Trend.
Temirgali especially noted the transport sector, speaking about the areas of potential development of bilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.
" We are fraternal countries at the same time, due to the fact that both countries have a good location, are neighbors on the Caspian Sea. The trade turnover is growing very dynamically. It amounted to about a third of a billion USD at the end of last year, which is three times more than the results of 2020. It is clear that there was a decline, but nevertheless, this figure is much higher than in 2018 and 2019. Therefore, there is a positive trend," he said.
Temirgali stressed that foreign investors consider the market of Central Asia and the South Caucasus as one region and when making investment decisions, regional investment attractivenessit in general is very important.
"The project of the Trans-Caspian transport route is the connecting link which unites countries such as Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and European countries, globally linking China and the EU in the transport industry," he said.
“This is a very perspective route and if you look at the statistics, you can also see a very positive trend here against the context of turbulence in world politics and instability associated with other alternative routes,” Temirgali added.
“From the date of creation of the route to the present day, 4.4 million tons of cargo have been transported along with it, which is about 96.3 thousand containers,” he said.
"The dynamics of land transportation in general along the China-EU route and the volume of transit traffic through Kazakhstan in 2021 exceeded one billion TEU containers, which is 22 percent more than last year," Temirgali said.
He also stressed that multimodal routes are becoming cheaper as a result of the development of modern technologies, including digital ones.
"They are becoming cheaper and more and more cargo is not shipped by sea route from Asia to Europe and beyond, but by land - through our region, and within this global movement of goods, our land route through the Caspian Sea becomes even more valuable. Firstly, the cost of transportation is reduced, secondly, given the various political situations, trade wars and sanctions on a global scale, this route seems to be very important and stable. Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are the countries that are the core of this route. Our cooperation is very important and we see in this regard a very big perspective," Temirgali said.