Photo: Mfa.kz

The diplomatic corps of foreign countries in Kazakhstan have travelled to the Khorgos-East Gate Special Economic Zone and the Khorgos International Centre of Boundary Cooperation to familiarize themselves with the transit potential of the multimodal logistics hub in line with the expansion of trade and economic relations between East and West and the integration of Kazakhstan into regional trade flows, reports official website of Foreign Ministry of Kazakhstan.

It is symbolic that President Nursultan Nazarbayev, on the eve of his address to the people of Kazakhstan, set these and other tasks for the Government and the Foreign Ministry.

Ambassadors and representatives of diplomatic missions from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, North and South America, the African continent, as well as heads of representative offices of a number of international and regional organizations such as the World Bank, ESCAP and OSCE, participated in the event.

Speaking to foreign diplomats, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kairat Abdrakhmanov, noted that the implementation of the Nurly Zhol program had already ensured an optimal logistics chain from the east coast of China - the Port of Lianyungang through the dry port on the border of Kazakhstan and China, to the system of railways and highways through the Caspian to Europe. This logistics chain is attractive to partners in Central Asia, China, the Caucasus, Turkey and Europe because it connects the container multimodal routes of the Trans-Caspian international corridor.

“The head of state set an ambitious task to turn Kazakhstan into the most important Eurasian transport and logistics hub. For this purpose we intend to ensure the full-fledged work of the North-South, East-West, Western Europe-Western China corridors, implement the New Economic Policy integration Nurly Zhol and the Chinese initiative Belt and Road and connect the regions of Kazakhstan to the China-Iran intercontinental highways and corridors through the Caucasus and Russia” said the Minister.

In the conditions of the fourth industrial revolution, the Government of Kazakhstan plans to reach the following targets: increase the annual income from transit in 2020 to $5 billion; increase container delivery to 2 million TEU (unit of cargo capacity, equivalent to twenty foot); 4-fold increase transit for passenger transport by air transport, and increase the flow of transit passengers to 1.6 million. Kairat Abdrakhmanov reminded that last year the transit of goods through Kazakhstan grew by 17% and amounted to almost 17 million tons and starting from 2015 the share of the transport industry in GDP is on average at least 8%. Due to the successful launch of the ICBC Khorgos project, the creation of a similar ICBC on the Kazakh-Uzbek border is currently being studied.

The development of cross-border partnership at Khorgos is one of the key projects in Kazakhstan-China relations. The ICBC provides free movement within its borders for citizens of Kazakhstan and China, as well as for citizens of third countries who are visiting the host country for business purposes, to study industrial products produced in Kazakhstan, China and the CIS countries, trade, conclude trade transactions, as well as for leisure purposes.

"The Qazaq Times"