Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan mull transport cooperation
By Vusala Abbasova
Development of cooperation in the transport sector was high on the agenda of talks held between Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and Chairman of the Kazakhstan's national railway company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy JSC Askar Mamin on June 8.
Mamin presented the Turkmen president several projects on the further development of the transport and logistical sector in the region, in particular the projects on widening transit flows and increasing the volumes of cargo traffic in the North-South direction.
The sides also mentioned the importance of the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran transnational railway, which was put into operation in December, 2014 and has become a new bridge for transcontinental transportation at the Eurasian continent.
The volume of transportations along the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway, which has been recognized as an important link of the North-South corridor, is expected to reach 15 million tons by 2020.
The railway is believed to open an access to the ports in the
Persian Gulf and the promising market in India for the
participating countries.
The sides also expressed interest in increasing the freight traffic
flow by using the Lianyungang Port in China and the volume of
transit shipments from China via the North-South and West-East
transport corridors.
The Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway was commissioned by Kazakh
President Nursultan Nazarbayev, his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly
Berdymukhamedov and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on December 3,
2014.
Being part of the North-South international transport corridor, the railway was constructed with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank. It is 925 kilometers in total, with 85 kilometers in Iran's territory, 700 kilometers in Turkmenistan and the remaining 140 kilometers in Kazakhstan.
Preliminary estimates show that annually 3-5 million metric tons of cargo will be transported via this route.
Experts believe that this railway will be beneficial for participating countries because it will increase trade between them.
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