ASTANA (TCA) — In 2017, in Kazakhstan, the freight turnover along the transit corridor Western Europe–Western China has reached 600 thousand tons, Roman Sklyar, Kazakh Vice Minister for Investment and Development, said at a press conference on October 23, the official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reported.
According to him, in 2009, 160 thousand tons of cargo passed through Kazakhstan along this motor road route. The turnover of this transit corridor in 2009 was 13 million tons. According to the forecasts of the Ministry for Investment and Development, in 2020 these indicators will reach 33 million tons of cargo per year.
As the vice minister noted, the international transit corridor Western Europe–Western China is the shortest route for transporting goods from China to Kazakhstan, Central Asian countries, western regions of Russia and Europe. When carrying goods by road, the time of delivery of cargo to St. Petersburg from the central provinces of China is no more than 10 days, whereas by sea the goods would pass the same way for 45 days.
“The length of the transit corridor in our country is 2787 km. In the current year, we have completed all necessary work on this corridor,” Sklyar said.
According to the vice minister, the countries that participated in the construction of this corridor, in addition to strengthening the transit potential, have also received an internal effect regarding the development of the regions. For example, in Kazakhstan the corridor runs through 200 settlements with a total population of 5.5 million. Significant impulse is expected in the development of small and medium businesses, the service industry, tourism and other sectors of the economy.
