ASTANA, Kazakhstan, November 16. Kazakhstan and Russia reaffirmed the importance of development of the North-South International Transport Corridor, Trend reports.
This was stated during a meeting between Minister of Transport of Kazakhstan Marat Karabayev and Minister of Transport of Russia Vitaly Savelyev on the sidelines of the International Forum within the framework of Transport Week 2023 in Moscow.
The meeting from the Kazakh side was attended by representatives of the national companies Kazakhstan Railways, KazAvtoZhol, Aktau Sea Trade Port, Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan JSC, Atasu group LLP, PTC Holding and other private companies. And from the Russian side, the management of Rosaviation, Russian Railways and Aeroflot took part in the meeting.
At the negotiations, industry-related problematic issues, prospects for deepening mutually beneficial cooperation, as well as the progress of implementation of the Roadmap for the development of further cooperation in the field of transport were discussed.
The parties supported the intentions to modernize checkpoints on the Kazakh-Russian border, as well as the construction of a new railway line Bakhty-Ayagoz with the opening of a third checkpoint on the border of Kazakhstan with China, etc.
Following the meeting, the heads of departments noted the importance of further cooperation between the two countries in the field of railway and road transport, logistics and aviation.
The foundation of the North-South Transport Corridor was laid on the basis of the intergovernmental agreement signed between Russia, Iran, and India on September 12, 2000. Azerbaijan joined this agreement in 2005.
In total, 13 countries have ratified the agreement (Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Armenia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Sultanate of Oman, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Türkiye and Ukraine).
From January through August 2023, the volume of trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Russia amounted to $17 billion. Exports to Russia amounted to $6.389 billion, and imports from Russia amounted to $10.611 billion.
At the same time, the volume of trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Russia in 2022 amounted to $26.123 billion. Kazakhstan's exports to Russia during the reporting period amounted to $8.78 billion, while imports amounted to $17.34 billion.