ASTANA – The Latvian pavilion held the international conference “Prospects of global transport communication. Eurasian potential” July 11 in the framework of the Week of Transit and Logistics at EXPO 2017.
Photo: inform.kz
Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis, Transport Minister Uldis Augulis, President of the Latvian Railways Edvins Berzins, Kazakh First Deputy Prime Minister Askar Mamin and Chairman of the national railway company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) Kanat Alpysbayev addressed the opening of the conference.
Participants discussed the global trends of infrastructure development in the area of creating new and strengthening the existing Eurasian routes, as well as the synergy of rail and sea transportation.
Mamin stressed the important role of the conference as a platform to build cooperation in the transport sector.
“The quality of transport infrastructure of Kazakhstan and Latvia allows to significantly shorten the delivery time and increase the traffic between Europe and Asia,” Mamin noted.
“Latvia is aware of its significant contribution to the creation of a connection on the Eurasian continent. We are ready to implement the idea of cooperation into real achievements. As a result of long and significant work, we are able to develop efficient and modern transport infrastructure. Latvia has historically close relations with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan,” Augulis said.
Mamin noted the prospects for cooperation between Kazakhstan and Latvia in exporting Kazakh goods through Latvia to the European market, including via seaports.
According to him, the Kazakh government seeks to reduce administrative barriers and improve the services on transport routes.
“Kazakhstan is a reliable and significant partner for cooperation for our country. This year marks the 25th anniversary of establishing the diplomatic relations between Latvia and Kazakhstan. For a quarter of a century, our countries are developing an active political dialogue and successful economic cooperation. We share common goals and a common vision of the future,” Vejonis said.
According to Alpysbayev, KTZ is implementing the state strategy on development of the transport and logistics infrastructure, as well as the transport potential of the country through the integration of all kinds of transport in the formation of logistics supply chains.
In Alpysbayev’s words, during the last nine years, $26 billion was invested to develop transport infrastructure. Fursthermore, almost $6 billion are to be invested until 2020.
“The new lines built in Kazakhstan allowed creating a railroad configuration optimising domestic and international transportation in the directions of China-Europe, North-South and the Trans-Caspian route,” he said.
Noting the potential of the Latvian transport and logistics complex, Alpysbaev suggested the Latvian side take part in the development of the special economic zone Khorgos – Eastern Gate, as well as to engage in formation of a multimodal port tariff policy and improvement of services to attract customers to transit routes through Kazakhstan and Latvia.
