ALMATY, Kazakhstan (TCA) — Amangeldy Issenov, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board at the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), took part in the official opening of the Nurly Zhol (Kazakhstan) – Khorgos (China) checkpoint on September 27. The event took place in the neutral territory between the borders of Kazakhstan and China. The participants in the ceremony included Kanat Bayedilov, Vice Minister of Finance of Kazakhstan, Ardak Tengebayev, Chairman of the State Revenues Committee at the Ministry of Finance of Kazakhstan, and Amandyk Batalov, Mayor of Almaty Region, the EDB press service reported.
Earlier, the EDB and Eurotransit Terminal signed a loan agreement to finance the construction and operation of the Nurly Zhol automobile checkpoint and the operation of a logistics centre on a section of the Western Europe – Western China road using a PPP mechanism. The EDB’s loan for the programme will total KZT 32 billion. The facility will be available until April 2020.
“The project is expected to enhance transport infrastructure and transit potential of Kazakhstan’s transport system, which is one of the country’s strategic priorities as regards transport development,” Amangeldy Issenov, Deputy Chairman of the EDB Management Board, commented. “In particular, it will create cutting-edge infrastructure to service traffic, promote the development of transport and logistics services throughout the country, and ensure prerequisites for the enhancement of foreign and domestic trade.”
The Nurly Zhol automobile checkpoint is part of Eurasia’s Europe–China land transport corridor to be built under the initiative to develop the transit capacity of the EDB member countries’ transport systems and the Europe – Western China road corridor project – the only transboundary project to develop transport infrastructure approved by the governments of Russia and Kazakhstan.
The ceremony brought together a member/minister of the Eurasian Economic Commission’s Board for Customs Cooperation, heads of customs services from the EEU countries, as well as Azerbaijan, Finland, Georgia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, and representatives of international institutions.
The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) is an international financial institution founded by Russia and Kazakhstan in January 2006 with the mission to facilitate the development of market economies, sustainable economic growth, and the expansion of mutual trade and other economic ties in its member states. The EDB’s charter capital totals US $7 billion. The member states of the Bank are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.
Eurotransit Terminal is a logistics provider from Kazakhstan offering all types of freight forwarding, customs clearance, warehousing and cargo handling services. The company was established in 2012 and has a wide range of offices in and beyond Kazakhstan.
The company has united the transport infrastructures of China and Europe as part of the Nurly Zhol – The Way to the Future and One Belt One Road projects. Eurotransit has set six logistics centres on the Kazakhstan–China border with the aim to provide comprehensive solutions to the problem of logistics infrastructure. These include two rail logistics checkpoints, Altynkol and Dostyk, and four automobile checkpoints, Maikapchagai, Bakhty, Khorgos and Kalzhat.
