BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 27. Kazakhstan’s achievements in the field of transport over the past 30 years are impressive, Ambassador of Switzerland to Kazakhstan Salman Bal told Trend.
"Since becoming independent, the Republic of Kazakhstan has made enormous investments to reconstruct and develop its local rail and road networks. More than 2,500 km of new railway lines were constructed in the last 30 years, which is an impressive achievement! At a very early stage, Kazakhstan recognized its potential as a transit country, for example, with endeavors such as the Western China-Western Europe and Nurly Zhol projects," he said.
As the ambassador noted, Switzerland is similar to Kazakhstan in the sense that both are landlocked countries and natural “transportation hubs” on their continents.
"The crossing route over the St. Gotthard linking Northern and Southern Europe, for example, was crucial for Switzerland's development. And this question is still significant today: some of the longest tunnels in the world were built in Switzerland to improve European transport routes and to connect Switzerland with the world. Most of our country’s history revolves around the fact that it connects Europe on both the north-south and west-east axes, a fact that we keep in mind by continuously developing our road and rail network," he said.
Salman Bal added that, in an analogous way, it is certain that many countries in Eurasia will benefit from the development of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR, or Middle Corridor).