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Representatives of the railway administrations of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey convened in Tashkent on May 28 and 29 to discuss the development of freight transportation along the CASCA+ transport corridor. CASCA+ is a joint initiative of the state railways of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan. The “+” sign indicates a willingness to accept new potential participants in achieving the goal to connect transport routes to Southeast Asia, particularly China, with Europe. As reported by Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Transport, the agenda focused on projects to develop the CASCA+ transport corridor, with representatives of all railway administrations supporting the Uzbekistan Railways’ initiative to create a consortium to coordinate related activities. Proposals were also forwarded to establish the safe transportation of perishable goods such as fruit and vegetables in refrigerated containers along the CASCA+ corridor and to create an online monitoring system for the location of wagons and containers travelling along the route. The emphasis on refrigerated transportation aligns with recommendations made in March by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev at a government meeting on increasing Uzbek agricultural exports.
At a meeting of the Kazakh-Chinese commission on road transportation on 24 May in Aktau, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Transport reported on a test run of the transit of goods along the China-Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan-Georgia route through the seaports of Kuryk and Baku across the Caspian Sea. On 23 May, the first three Chinese trucks, weighing 80 tons, travelled from Urumqi through Kazakhstan to the city of Aktau’s Kuryk port and after being loaded onto a ferry, continued their journey to Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Europe. Praising the agreement with China on enhancing road transportation signed last year, Ali Altai, Chairman of the Committee for Road Transport and Transport Control at the Ministry of Transport of Kazakhstan, commented: “For the first time in history, vehicles from both countries can travel directly to all our major trading cities and transit through their territories. It currently takes up to 52 days for hundreds of millions of tons of cargo to be shipped by sea from China to Western countries, and up to 22 days to transport smaller volumes by rail. Road transport can reduce the delivery time to 12 days, on a ‘door to door’ basis without intermediate loading/unloading.”
On April 27, Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Serik Zhumangarin, Director General of the Agency of Transport and Communications of Turkmenistan Mammetkhan Chakiyev, and Minister of Trade and Industry of the Afghan Taliban government Nuriddin Azizi met in Kabul. During negotiations, an agreement was made to develop more favourable and competitive tariffs for the passage of container trains from China through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, and further afield to Pakistan, India, and Middle Eastern countries. To support the initiative, Afghan businesses have been invited to use the Kazakh terminal in China’s Xi'an Dry Port to consolidate goods for transport by rail. According to preliminary calculations, the delivery time for goods via the accelerated, uninterrupted route from Xi'an/Urumqi in China to Turgundi and Andkhoy in Afghanistan will be reduced to just 10-12 days, at a cost significantly cheaper than alternative modes of transport. Since the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Afghanistan route could also be used for transporting goods from Russia and Belarus to India and the Middle East, it provides added impetus for the development of the North-South transport corridor.
