ASTANA, Kazakhstan, March 4. Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Oljas Bektenov and Prime Minister of Russia Mikhail Mishustin have discussed the expanding potential of North-South transport corridor, Trend reports.
The discussion took place during a meeting between the prime ministers as part of Bektenov’s visit to Russia.
Thus, the parties focused on the expansion and development of the transport corridor with intensive use of the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway section.
In addition to this, the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan noted the need to accelerate and synchronize work to modernize checkpoints on the Kazakh-Russian state border.
It was noted that by the end of 2027, 29 checkpoints out of 30, determined taking into account the workload, will be reconstructed. These measures will facilitate transit and increase capacity along the entire length of the common border.
Meanwhile, Kazakhstan’s trade turnover with Russia in 2023 amounted to $25.9 billion. Exports to Russia are $9.7 billion, and imports from Russia are $16.2 billion.
Furthermore, the North-South Transport Corridor was founded on an international agreement signed on September 12, 2000, by Russia, Iran, and India. This agreement was signed by Azerbaijan in 2005.
The agreement has been ratified by 13 nations in total (Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Armenia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Sultanate of Oman, Russia, Tajikistan, Türkiye, and Ukraine).