BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 27
Trend:
During the "India-Central Asia" summit, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev suggested establishing an interregional transport and logistics consortium, Trend reports via Kazinform.
“Central Asia has a huge transport and logistics potential in the sphere of global economic relations. Some 11 international transit corridors are running through Kazakhstan, out of which five railway lines and six highways provide fast goods traffic en route East-West and North-South. In the northwestern direction, given the common customs territory in the area of the Eurasian Economic Union, Kazakhstan has access to the Russian market and some Eastern European countries,” Tokayev stated during the summit.
The head of state also noted that the southwestern route through Kazakhstan’s Aktau and Kuryk ports with a capacity of 26 million tons per year is equally of high potential.
“The ports give a wide access to the states of the Caspian region, Turkey and further to the West. Over the past 10 years, Kazakhstan has invested about $30 billion in the national transport infrastructure development. In the future, we will continue to make significant investments in its modernization. This is an issue of strategic importance for our landlocked countries. I am deeply convinced that the development of a reliable, efficient and safe transport infrastructure should become the key element in the architecture of interconnected relationships between Central Asia and India,” said Tokayev.
In this regard, the president proposed to consider an opportunity to create an interregional transport and logistics consortium. He also added that this structure could secure effective coordination of national policies regarding the full and mutually beneficial loads of transport routes in the direction of India, the Caspian Sea's ports, and the Persian Gulf.