Uzbekistan has joined the China-Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway corridor, the Kazakhstan Railways said in a statement.
"On April 4, a meeting of officials of the railway authorities of Kazakhstan, China, Iran, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan took place in Almaty dedicated to advancing of cargo traffic along the transport corridor. The traffic volume along the China-Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran corridor reached 1,000 TEU last year." – the statement said.
First Deputy Chairman of the Board of Kazakhstan Railways, Kanat Almagambetov noted that the flow of containerized cargo increased, especially to Uzbekistan and through the Bolashak station to Iran. With the accession of Uzbekistan, the corridor will become much shorter.
"To increase transit cargo transportation from China to our countries and in other directions, it is important to set acceptable tariff and other terms," said Almagambetov.
In addition, the meeting discussed issues of attracting additional goods to the Iran-PRC route, organizing regular container services and establishing tariff conditions along the China-Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran corridor for loaded containers in 2019. The regular feeder service has been launched as of April on the Aktau-Alat route.
Following the meeting, Uzbekistan has joined the China-Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway corridor, in particular the participation of the Uzbek side in container traffic on this route. The parties also agreed on complex tariff rates.
