Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, May 31 / Trend, H. Hasanov /
A meeting was held with a Kazakh delegation headed by Transport and Communications Minister Askar Zhumagaliyev at the Railway Transport Ministry of Turkmenistan, Turkmen Dovlet Khabarlary reported on Thursday.
'In particular, an agreement was signed on the establishment of an international railway border checkpoint at the state border of Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan', the report says.
The signing took place as part of the implementation of a major project for the construction of a steel main rail link passing through Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran which will ensure convenient and efficient transportation of goods to South Asia and the Persian Gulf ports and respectively, the other way, through Russia to Eastern Europe.
'Special attention was paid to issues related to the practical implementation of the project of construction of the Uzen-Gyzylgaya-Bereket-Etrek-Gorgan railway, a key link for the transnational transport corridor 'North-South', designed to be a kind of bridge between Europe and Asia aimed to serve the development of mutually beneficial trade and economic relations', the report says.
Its commissioning is also urgent in view of possible link-up with 'East-West' transport communications that is with the transcontinental transport corridor China-Central Asia-Caucasus-Europe.
According to forecasts, in the first stage the 'North-South' railway will transport three to five million tons of cargo per year and in the future volumes of freight traffic will increase up to 10-12 million tons.
In addition, modal redistribution of transit goods will become possible, that is switching road, sea and air transportation to railways.
According to Turkmen Dovlet Khabarlary, the meeting participants discussed issues relating to operation of the 'North-South' railway after its commissioning and a number of joint measures on the development required for this infrastructure.