Kazakhstan calls for establishing Eurasian transit and transport hub
By Fatma Babayeva
Kazakhstan continues to back enlarging of existing international transport corridors and initiates creating of new ones, which pass through the country by linking the eastern markets with the western ones.
President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed the formation of Eurasian transit and transport hub that will bring together member and observer states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
He made the remarks during the meeting of the Council of State Heads of SCO in Tashkent on June 24.
Nazarbayev reminded that more than a year ago, he put forward an initiative to establish Joint Eurasian Economic Space.
“The key element here is merging infrastructures of the hubs of Eurasia via reviving historical routes of the Silk Road,” he added.
In this regard, the Kazakh president proposed to join efforts of SCO’s member states in a number of directions, including the joining of the Eurasian Economic Union and China’s “Silk Road Economic Belt” project.
Members of the SCO, established in 2001, are China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, while Afghanistan, Iran, Mongolia and Belarus are the SCO observer-countries and Turkey, Azerbaijan, Sri Lanka, Armenia, Cambodia and Nepal are dialogue partners.
Kazakhstan is one of the countries that Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, which is a multimodal corridor using railway, maritime and roadways for transporting goods, passes through.
The revival of the Great Silk Road will increase the volumes of cargo transportation via the country as well.
China is also interested in promoting the 'One Belt, One Road' strategy, which envisages the development of cargo transportation by containers to Europe.
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Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva
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