President Of Kazakhstan Demands Five-Fold Increase In Exports Bypassing Russia
- 1.09.2023, 12:53
Tokayev delivered a special “message to the nation”.
Kazakhstan intends to significantly increase the capacity of transport corridors that allow exporting goods bypassing Russia, President of the Republic Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said.
The volume of traffic on the Trans-Caspian route (TITR), which goes through the waters of the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan and Georgia, and then to Turkey and the EU countries, can be increased five times in the medium term, Tokayev said in an address to the nation on Friday.
“To do this, we need to join forces with partner countries,” including China, he said, adding that the project will be part of the Chinese initiative of the new “silk road” (quotes from TASS).
It is necessary to build a new “dry port” at the Bakhty crossing, speed up the construction of a container hub in Aktau, expand port facilities on the Black Sea along the Middle Corridor, Tokayev listed. “The construction of Kazakh terminals in Chinese Xian and the Georgian port of Poti has already been launched,” he specified.
According to the results of the first half of 2023, the volume of transit traffic from China to the EU along the Trans-Caspian route increased by 77% and reached 1.3 million tons. At the end of June, the national railway operators of Kazakhstan, Georgia and Azerbaijan signed a joint venture agreement to accelerate the development of the project, which has become an alternative for Chinese companies to transit through the Russian Federation.
A month earlier, the leaders of China, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan agreed to build a railway to transport goods to the EU. The almost 500-kilometer highway, which will shorten the route to Europe by 7-8 days and bypass Russia, which is “toxic” due to sanctions, will start at the Torugart Pass in Kyrgyzstan and will go north to Jalal-Abad, where it will connect to the railway network of Uzbekistan. Following talks with the heads of Central Asian states of the former Soviet Union, Chinese President Xi Jinping promised 26 billion yuan ($3.6 billion) in financial support and “free aid” and offered to expand cooperation in the military sphere.
Kazakhstan is already ramping up its oil exports, bypassing Russia, by buying tankers to carry crude across the Caspian Sea. Last year, the state-owned Kazatomprom Corporation, the world's largest uranium miner, said it was considering diversifying its export channels, which were previously carried out primarily through Russian ports.