Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan have agreed to jointly develop the China–Kazakhstan–Turkmenistan–Iran corridor. The agreement was reached during the first meeting of the Kazakh-Turkmen joint working group on the development of transport, transit, and logistics, held in Ashgabat on 26-27 November 2023.
The meeting was co-chaired by Vice Minister of Transport of the Republic of Kazakhstan Talgat Lastayev and Deputy Director General of the Agency for Transport and Communications under the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan Batyr Annayev.
The parties discussed issues of cooperation in the field of transport, transit, and logistics.
The Working Group positively assessed the joint work carried out on the formation of a flexible competitive tariff policy in the field of railway communication.
A protocol and a memorandum on transport interconnection were signed between the Ministry of Transport of Kazakhstan and the Agency for Transport and Communications under the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan.
The memorandum provides for the expansion of cooperation between the two countries in the field of rail and sea transport. It outlines intentions to increase traffic volumes across the territories of the two countries, including the creation of favorable tariff conditions, the adoption of joint measures to harmonize infrastructure development, and the introduction of digital solutions for mutual information exchange.
The railway line Uzen (Kazakhstan) – Gyzylgaya – Bereket – Etrek (Turkmenistan) – Gorgan (Iran) is an important link in the transport and logistics schemes of Eurasia, which facilitates cargo transit to the Middle East.
The agreement on the continuation of the development of the CKTI corridor by increasing its attractiveness is indicated in the Joint Statement of President Serdar Berdimuhamedov and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, which was adopted in October last year during the state visit of the head of Turkmenistan to Astana. ///nCa, 30 November 2023