Turkmenistan is included in Eurasian Agroexpress, the joint project of the Eurasian Economic Union, envisaging accelerated container rail and multimodal transportation of agricultural export products between the EAEU countries (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia) and China, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and other countries of Southeast and Central Asia.
The idea of the project is that the integrated use of transport infrastructure between the EAEU countries and neighboring countries will optimize logistics costs, expand their opportunities for international cooperation, including to attract investment in cross-border transport projects of the EAEU countries.
According to the updated project’s action plan for 2023-2024, Agroexpress will expand transportation carried out along the North–South international transport corridor to Turkmenistan, Iran, the UAE and India. This was announced by the Minister for Trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission Andrey Slepnev.
“In addition, the goal has been set to increase regular export supplies to the Asian direction, as well as to eliminate existing restrictive measures and optimize customs and other administrative procedures during transportation,” the press service of the EEC reports.
According to the revised action plan, monthly trial shipments via the INSTC’s eastern branch will transit through Turkmenistan and connect with Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.
The routes of direct rail shipments to China are also being scaled in the regions of the EAEU countries, and possible consolidation points and tariff conditions for the implementation of the project in Uzbekistan are being worked out, the EEC notes.
In the future, Eurasian Agroexpress will launch a digital platform that will reduce transaction costs, provide reasonable trade financing, and enable end-to-end control of contract implementation throughout the supply chain.
According to the EEC, Agroexpress deliveries in 2022 totaled more than 500 000 tons. This year’s increase in freight flows will be facilitated through the removal of anti-traffic restrictions from China and the addition of new routes. ///nCa, 19 April 2023