ASTANA: Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan, at a trilateral meeting in Kabul, have agreed to bolster transit and transport infrastructure in Afghanistan, Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister’s press service reported.
The meeting, attended by Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin, Director General of the Transport and Communications Agency under Turkmenistan’s Cabinet of Ministers Mammetkhan Chakyev, and Afghan Minister of Commerce and Industry Nooruddin Azizi, focused on enhancing connectivity and facilitating trade through the development of strategic transit routes.
A key initiative arising from the meeting involves the establishment of favorable and competitive tariff conditions to expedite the passage of container trains from China through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, with onward connections to Pakistan, India, and Middle Eastern countries. The aim is to streamline logistics processes and reduce delivery times, with preliminary estimations suggesting a significant reduction to 10-12 days for goods traveling from China’s Xian/Urumqi to Afghanistan’s Turgundi and Andkhoy.
The implementation of this transit route holds substantial benefits for Afghanistan, enabling the uninterrupted supply of Chinese goods to the western regions of the country while simultaneously reducing delivery costs compared to alternative transportation methods.
Deputy Prime Minister Zhumangarin underscored the importance of recalibrating traffic flows and outlined forthcoming infrastructure development initiatives, particularly emphasizing the significance of the Beineu-Aktau-Bolashak corridor in Kazakhstan. The parties acknowledged the pivotal role of the eastern branch of the international North-South transport corridor, which is poised to emerge as a vital route for transporting goods from Russia and Belarus through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, India, and the Middle East.
The participating countries agreed to establish a working group tasked with implementing the agreed-upon initiatives.
