ASTANA – The Caspian and Black seas regions international conference, designed to address efficient logistics in the countries with the participation of Caspian and Black sea regions representatives, took place Aug. 24-25 in Aktau.
Photo credit: railnews.kz
Initiated by KAZLOGISTICS, the Union of Transport of Kazakhstan, the event gathered delegates from the Ministry for Investment and Development, Ministry of National Economy and Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ), the national railway company. Representatives of Atameken, the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs, and heads of Azerbaijani, Georgian, Lithuanian, Turkish and Ukrainian transport and logistics companies were also involved, according to the company’s release.
Kazakhstan’s opportunities as a transit country and the main difficulties in creating efficient logistics in the Caspian and Black Sea regions were discussed. The exchange of views and information on the prospects for the formation of new competitive transport routes was also on the agenda.
In his remarks, KTZ Vice-President Kanat Alpysbayev focused on the major projects implemented by the company. He also spoke about developing the transport and logistics infrastructure of the Caspian Sea as the western gate of Kazakhstan and key link of the trans-Caspian rail route, the expansion of Aktau port in the northern direction and the construction of a ferry complex in Kuryk port.
“Our partners are also actively involved in projects for the infrastructure development to advance the trans-Caspian rail route. Next year, construction is expected to be completed on the Kars (Turkey) – Akhalkalaki (Georgia) railroad, which undoubtedly will give additional impetus to the development of our corridor. Providing the trans-Caspian rail route with the infrastructure component, we must concentrate on addressing the challenges of the development of the route and increase its attractiveness in high competition with alternative land and sea routes,” said Alpysbayev.
He expressed confidence that the ideas and suggestions discussed during the conference will give impetus to integrating countries in the world market of transport and logistics services.
KAZLOGISTICS general director Kanat Almagambetov said the country seeks full disclosure in the potential transportation and logistics industry, which in turn can trigger a significant increase of the country’s competitiveness, improve investment attractiveness and contribute to sustainable economic growth not only in Kazakhstan, but also for all the countries of the Caspian and Black Sea regions by implementing state programmes for infrastructure development.
“We would like to create an environment for discussion, sharing of experiences and relevant information about possible traffic flow in all directions at today’s conference. We are interested in specific routes and conditions for their promotion, the necessary measures to improve cooperation and prospects for the removal of physical and non-physical barriers and legislative initiatives to harmonise and improve the conditions for international trade,” said Almagambetov.
A roundtable was dedicated to developing the Eurasian transcontinental international transport routes. The participants discussed issues of improving the efficiency of multimodal transport routes with the Caspian and Black Seas, trans-Caspian rail route development, organising work to reform conditions and cargo transportation via Aktau port.
