ASTANA, Kazakhstan, April 29. Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan have agreed to jointly develop transit and transport infrastructure in Afghanistan, Trend reports.
A corresponding agreement was reached at a trilateral meeting in Kabul between Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Serik Zhumangarin, General Director of the Transport and Communications Agency under the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan Mammetkhan Chakiyev, and Minister of Commerce and Industry of Afghanistan Nooruddin Azizi.
For the purpose of joint development, favorable and competitive tariff conditions will be created, which will ensure the accelerated passage of container trains from China through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to Afghanistan and further to Pakistan, India, and the countries of the Middle East.
According to preliminary calculations, the delivery time for goods via the accelerated route from Xi'an/Urumqi (China) to Afghanistan (Torghundi and Andkhoy) will be reduced to 10–12 days.
The use of the new transit route will allow Afghanistan to ensure an uninterrupted supply of Chinese goods to the west of the country and significantly reduce the cost of delivering goods compared to other modes of transport.
At the same time, Afghan businesses are invited to use the capabilities of the Kazakh terminal in the Xi'an Dry Port to consolidate the most popular goods into container trains and direct delivery of consumer goods: solar panels, diesel generators, mobile phones, office equipment, and others.
Meanwhile, over the past three years, the volume of export transportation from Kazakhstan to Afghanistan has been growing steadily. In 2023, the volume of transportation by rail amounted to 2.7 million tons, of which 1.5 million tons were flour and grain. This is 14 percent more than in 2021.
The forecast for the coming years is an increase in exports by 40 percent. At the same time, by 2030, traffic growth is expected to triple.
To date, 13 international transport corridors have been formed and are in operation in Kazakhstan, including 5 railways and 8 roads.
Furthermore, about $30 billion has been invested in the transport and logistics infrastructure of Kazakhstan over the past 10 years.
Moreover, in the next five years, at least 40 billion euros will be needed to implement major infrastructure projects in the field of transportation in Kazakhstan.