The trade turnover between Russia and Turkmenistan along the North-South international transport corridor, including through the Makhachkala commercial sea port, will steadily grow and “will be explosive” in the coming years, said trade representative of the Russian Federation in Turkmenistan, Alexander Elizarov in an interview with TASS.
“We expect constant growth in the next three to five years. In the beginning, it will be explosive <…>, but we must clearly understand what the qualitative content [of trade turnover] will be,” Yelizarov said after a meeting with the government of Dagestan in Makhachkala.
According to him, the countries anticipate launching container transportation through the Makhachkala port. Food products, construction materials and general cargo are promising items for transportation. Now the countries are trading in metal, wood, food and chemicals.
Earlier, deputy prime minister of Dagestan Rizvan Gazimagomedov told that the trade turnover between the countries through the region last year totaled at US $ 200,000.
Now “the task within the framework of the international transport corridor “North – South” and “East-West” <…> is to create conditions with Turkmenistan and come to an understanding <…>. Container transportation and the resumption of ferry crossings, rail and road have prospects with Turkmenistan”, he said.
The regular container freight service between the ports of Turkmenbashi and Makhachkala is expected to launched by the end of this year. Ferry service between the ports of Turkmenbashi and Makhachkala existed in 2011-2012.
As Chairman of the Government of Dagestan Abdulmuslim Abdulmuslimov told Yelizarov, in 2022 the trade turnover between the Republic and Turkmenistan increased by 5% compared to 2021, and imports grew by 80%.
Astrakhan-Turkmenistan is another route for increasing trade turnover
Meanwhile, the improvement of connectivity between Turkmenistan and the Astrakhan region will additionally encourage the trade traffic along the North-South. The region is one of the most important trade partners of the country.
“The Astrakhan region is one of the key transport and logistics hubs of the INSTC. Its trans-Caspian route runs through us, along which Russia enters global markets. The importance of the INSTC was particularly noted by Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin at the XXVI St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. He set the task to double by 2025, and by 2030 – to triple the cargo flow through the “North – South”, the governor of the Astrakhan region Igor Babushkin wrote in his Telegram channel.
“We are negotiating with Turkmenistan on the creation of a shipping line between our ports and the construction of a logistics center in the Astrakhan region,” he said.
Babushkin stressed the readiness of the region “to accept additional volumes of cargo from South-East and Central Asia and ensure their transportation through the North-South.”
The North–South International Transport Corridor is a multimodal route from St. Petersburg to India, which passes through Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan. The route provides the optimal distance and the most favorable cost of transportation. It is in demand for supplies from Iran, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan. ///nCa, 1 July 2023
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