Implementation of Presidential Address: Strengthened joint measures with partner countries along Trans-Caspian Corridor
In fulfilment of the Head of State's Address to the people of Kazakhstan "Economic Course of Fair Kazakhstan", the Government is working on the implementation of the Roadmap for the removal of bottlenecks and development of the Middle Corridor until 2027 between Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkey and between Kazakhstan and Georgia, which will increase the capacity of the corridor to 10 million tonnes per year, El.kz cites primeminister.kz.
To ensure sufficient transit cargo from East to West, in November 2023 Kazakhstan and China signed a number of agreements to develop the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, including China-Europe container trains. These agreements were ratified by the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan on 1 July 2024.
To increase the attractiveness and competitiveness of the route, a single multimodal service has been created along its entire length.
A joint venture Middle Corridor Multimodal Ltd. was established on the basis of the Astana International Financial Centre, bringing together the railway administrations of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Georgia to manage the route on a parity basis. Digitalisation and optimisation of transport operations, including border crossings and terminal procedures, play an important role in this process.
To improve logistics services on a single window basis, the IT systems of KTZ have been integrated with the customs module of the DTC (Digital Trade Corridor) platform - Tez Customs, developed by Global DTC Kazakhstan Ltd. On 5 December 2023, a roadmap for cooperation between KTZ and Global DTC Kazakhstan Ltd for the implementation of the DTC platform was approved. Currently, the information systems of the railways of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are already integrated into the platform, and similar work is planned with Georgian railways.
As part of the joint venture "China-Kazakhstan Trade and Logistics Company", established in 2023 with the participation of Xi'an Free Trade Port Construction and Operation Co., Ltd. and JSC NC KTZh (represented by JSC Kedentransservice), a terminal was built in the dry port of Xi'an. The terminal, opened on 28 February 2024, consolidates 40% of all container trains heading towards Kazakhstan, which has contributed to a significant increase in transit traffic on the TMTM. Since the beginning of the year alone, transit through TMTM from China has shown almost twofold growth.
By the end of 2023, the volume of traffic on the TMTM route increased by 65% compared to 2022, reaching 2.76 million tonnes (1.7 million tonnes in 2022). In the first 7 months of 2024, traffic totalled 2.56 million tonnes, 63% more than in the same period last year (1.57 million tonnes).
These achievements confirm the effectiveness of joint work with partners and the importance of developing the Middle Corridor. Not only countries along the corridor, but also the regions of Southeast Asia, the Persian Gulf and Europe are showing interest in its development as a stable and competitive route.
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