Astana (TDI): The inaugural Kazakhstan-China Transport Forum, organized in Astana this week, unveiled a series of initiatives aimed at strengthening Kazakhstan’s position as a key transport and logistics hub for Chinese exports to Russia and Europe.
At the forum, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Transport Marat Karabayev and China’s Minister of Transport Liu Wei exchanged views on the development of a new multimodal transit corridor connecting Russia, Kazakhstan, and China.
The route will utilize the transboundary Irtysh River and the Ili River, establishing a navigable link from Kunayev in Kazakhstan to Yining in Xinjiang, China.
Major infrastructure plans include the construction of a new cross-border bridge at the Maykapshagay-Zimunay checkpoint to facilitate heavy trucks and the launching of a third international air corridor between the two nations.
The ministers also discussed setting up two new road checkpoints to better link East Kazakhstan and the Almaty regions with China.
By the end of the current year, Kazakhstan aims to complete two main rail infrastructure projects: the second track on the Dostyk-Moiynty railway and a bypass line around Almaty station.
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These upgrades are likely to considerably boost freight capacity and slash cargo transit times between China and Europe via Kazakhstan.
Further developments include the launch of a direct passenger train between Almaty and Xi’an and an expansion of flight services between the two countries to sixty-five per week.
Moreover, construction is underway on a new container hub at the Caspian Sea port of Aktau, a joint venture with a Chinese firm. Set to be completed by year’s end, it will expand the port’s annual capacity from 140,000 to 240,000 TEUs.
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Transport said that in the first quarter of the current year, road freight volumes between Kazakhstan and China increased by 82 percent, hitting 822,000 tons.
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Rail freight volumes went up by 13 percent over the first four months of 2024, totaling 11.4 million tons.
These developments underlined Kazakhstan’s increasing strategic significance in transcontinental logistics, as China continues to diversify its export routes westward.
Farkhund Yousafzai is an Associate Editor at The Diplomatic Insight.
