Almaty (TDI): In a bid to ensure the Central Asian country’s access to Pakistan’s Karachi and Gawadar ports, Kazakhstan’s Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin and Afghanistan’s Minister of Industry and Commerce, Nuriddin Azizi, signed an ambitious roadmap to increase Kazakh-Afghan trade turnover to $3 billion.
The agreement signed at a business forum in Almaty the other day became possible as Kazakhstan removed Taliban from its list of terrorist organization in June to develop trade and economic ties with Afghanistan and ensure access to Pakistani ports.
The world’s largest landlocked country, Kazakhstan, is interested in using the Trans-Afghan corridor, which runs through the Karachi and Gwadar seaports in Pakistan, to facilitate the transit of Kazakh export cargo to markets in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
Astana has already expressed intention to further enhance Pak-Kazakhstan cooperation.
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As the Kazakhstan-Afghanistan agreement reveals, Kazakhstan will be construction partner in developing two railway lines in Afghanistan connecting Turgundi, Herat, Kandahar,Spin Boldak ,Mazar-i-Sharif, and Harlachi. The railway lines will be extended to the Pakistan’s bordering areas in Baluchistan.
They also agreed to expand bilateral trade, develop cooperation in the chemical industry, and increase the export of Kazakh ammophos materials to Afghanistan.
The new and used cars manufactured in Kazakhstan will also be exported; they also agreed to set up service centers in Afghanistan, and build schools in the region.
Kazakh officials maintain that there is substantial potential to send grain and flour to Afghanistan while importing Afghan fruits, vegetables, dried fruits, and other products.
Kazakhstan also aims at supporting Afghanistan’s economic development and integration into international transport corridors, according to media reports.
Business activities between the two countries is already on rise. In the first the first six months this year, the volume of road transit from Afghanistan through Kazakhstan increased by 8%, exceeding 5,000 tons, compared to 10,000 tons last year.
Speaking at the business forum, Deputy Prime Minister Zhumangarin said that a railway corridor connects Kazakhstan and Afghanistan through Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan is crucial.
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The Afghan delegation was offered access to the dry port of Khorgos on the Kazakh-Chinese border to ensure the smooth transit of Afghan goods to China via Kazakhstan.
The business forum in Almaty coincided with Kazakh-Afghan negotiations on the logistics of transporting goods from China to Afghanistan and back through Kazakhstan. The event also featured an exhibition of Afghan food and industrial products.
