ASTANA, Kazakhstan, March 15. A new transport and logistics center in the Chinese city of Xi'an will significantly increase cargo flow through the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR, or Middle Corridor), said President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev during the meeting of the National Kurultai (Congress), Trend reports.
"To foster continued economic expansion, it's crucial to leverage all our competitive strengths. Kazakhstan must take decisive strides towards transforming into a pivotal transit hub within Eurasia. Recently, we inaugurated a transport and logistics center in Xi'an as part of the ambitious Kazakh-Chinese "One Belt, One Road" initiative. This week, the first container train from Xi'an arrived in Azerbaijan. The establishment of this new logistics center will substantially augment cargo throughput along TITR," Tokayev said.
According to him, the building and reconstruction of the country's road network will give a powerful impetus to the development of the economy.
"The works aim to cover a minimum of 12,000 kilometers of highways, leading to a substantial enhancement in the transport accessibility of settlements. This will foster increased business activity and social mobility for residents. Additionally, the government plans to boost gasification levels in settlements and modernize at least 1,700 kilometers of networks, ensuring access to natural gas for over 300,000 citizens. It's imperative to fully leverage the capabilities of local businesses and domestic enterprises when executing these infrastructure initiatives," Tokayev said.
The Middle Corridor links the container rail freight transportation networks of China and the European Union through Central Asia, the Caucasus, Türkiye and Eastern Europe.
Multilateral multimodal transportation infrastructure links ferry terminals of the Caspian and Black Seas with railway systems of China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Türkiye, Ukraine, and Poland.
The Middle Corridor facilitates increased cargo traffic from China to Türkiye, as well as to European countries and vice versa.
A route train along this corridor delivers cargo from China to Europe in an average of 20-25 days, and this is one of the main advantages of this transport corridor.
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