ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, October 4. Russian Railways has thrown a bone to freight transportation by extending discounts through Turkmenistan and a few other Central Asian countries for 2025, Trend reports.
Citing the information, tariffs for transporting ferrous metals through Russian-Kazakh border stations and to "Turkmen Railways" stations in Sarakhs or Akyayla have been reduced by 50 percent, emphasizing the importance of the eastern North-South corridor for goods transit.
In addition, the tariffs for export-import container transportation through the Bolashak-Serkhetiaka border crossing between Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan on the eastern route of the North-South corridor have taken a nosedive, slashing down by 20 percent.
The extension of preferential tariffs is designed to grease the wheels of international trade and bolster Russia's economic connections with Central Asian nations, such as Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
To note, in July 2024, Turkmenistan, alongside Russia, Kazakhstan, and Iran, executed a strategy to advance the eastern segment of the North-South route. The program seeks to augment the corridor's capacity to 15 million tons annually by 2027 and 20 million tons by 2030.