BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, July 11. Kyrgyzstan expects to launch a new route through Turkmenistan, said Akylbek Japarov, Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers and the Head of Kyrgyzstan's Presidential Administration, Trend reports.
He made the remark during a speech at the plenary meeting of the 25th Kyrgyz-Russian Intergovernmental Commission and the 11th Kyrgyz-Russian Interregional Conference in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.
During his speech, he said that he expects to open in the near future a new transport route for the delivery of goods to Russia and in the opposite direction through the Caspian Sea.
"Joint work is underway to develop an international multimodal route for the delivery of goods from Kyrgyzstan to Russia via Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan using a sea ferry service along the Caspian Sea. I hope that in the near future we will launch this new route, which will contribute to the growth of trade turnover between our countries," he said.
Meanwhile, trade turnover between Kyrgyzstan and Russia amounted to $611.5 million from January through March 2024, which is 6.1 percent more year-on-year ($576.705 million).
Exports totaled $118.7 million, declining 9 percent from the first quarter of 2023’s figures ($130.3 million). Imports reached $492.8 million, which is 10.4 percent more than $446.3 million in the corresponding months of last year.
Russia makes up 16.4 percent of Kyrgyzstan's total trade turnover. In Kyrgyzstan's exports, Russia's share is 23.2 percent, and in imports, it's 15.3 percent. Russia is Kyrgyzstan's second-largest trade partner after China, with trade between the two countries reaching $1.631 billion in the first quarter of 2024.