BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 8. This week's events in the transport sphere concerned the development of the Middle Corridor and the international North-South transport corridor, as well as various sectors of the transport industry.
Thus, it became known that the Belgian company Jan De Nul would carry out construction works on the maritime infrastructure of the deep-water Georgian port of Anaklia within the framework of the development of the Middle Corridor.
In the same week, during a meeting of the joint Uzbek-Bulgarian commission on international transport, the Uzbek Ministry of Transport announced Uzbekistan's plans to increase the volume of cargo transportation to EU countries via Bulgaria using the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR or Middle Corridor).
Uzbekistan only has access to the seas through participation in international corridors, and this week, International Road Transport Union (IRU) Secretary General Umberto de Pretto told Trend in an interview that the International Customs Transit System (TIR) for landlocked Central Asian countries could help turn them into regional trade hubs.
EBRD Acting Director General for Central Asia Hüseyin Özhan emphasized the importance of developing the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) in building a sustainable infrastructure for Central Asia at Astana Finance Days on September 5. According to him, the main priority of the project should be measured to ensure “soft connectivity”, such as digitalization of customs and border crossing procedures, the introduction of modern tariff methodologies, and harmonization of relevant legislation, and then TITR could become a key route for global trade.
Kazakhstan, in turn, offered Serbia to consider the possibilities of TITR, as reported by Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Serik Zhumangarin at a meeting with the Serbian delegation. According to him, Kazakhstan is interested in the development of transit for cargo transportation to Serbia and other European countries and proposed to consider for this purpose the possibilities of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route.
Furthermore, Astrakhan will host an international forum on the North-South corridor on November 13-15. This forum is organized to consolidate the sustainability of trade and economic ties of the CIS countries, countries of the Middle East, South Asia, and East Africa and to form a new concept of the North-South corridor on the interaction of these markets.
Deputy Director General for Strategy and Development of the Russian transport and logistics holding Delo Alexander Iodchin considers it expedient to increase container transportation along the North-South International Transport Corridor (ITC).
Meanwhile, President Sadyr Zhaparov's decree in Kyrgyzstan appointed Absattar Syrgabayev (who previously served as Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative in Jalal-Abad Oblast) as Minister of Transport and Communications.
Additionally, it became known that Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan plan to establish joint production of ferries for the needs of Uzbekistan, and the amount of funding for the project will amount to $150 million.
Moreover, an informed source told Trend that Azerbaijan's Azermash and Uzbekistan are actively working on a joint project to organize the assembly of Cobalt cars using CKD (Complete Knock Down) technology. The production volume of “Cobalt” is designed to produce 15,000 cars per year, and its launch is scheduled for 2025.
Additionally, it became known that from January through July of this year, the volume of cargo transported by all types of transport in Kyrgyzstan amounted to 28.324 million tons (an increase of 8 percent). This was reported by the National Statistics Committee of the country.
This week the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, addressing the joint session of the Chambers of Parliament with the annual message to the people, said that about 150,000 tons of air cargo will be handled in Kazakhstan annually, and in the next four years this figure can be doubled. Also in the zone of close attention should be the development of domestic air routes, especially the issue of infrastructure at major tourist sites.
Baku's Heydar Aliyev Airport announced this week that more than 5.038 million passengers were served from January through August 2024, which is 33.2 percent more than in the same period of 2023. At the same time, August 2024 was the busiest month in the airport's history - passenger traffic exceeded 827,000 people, up 23 percent compared to the same period last year. Such growth was the result of the expansion of Baku Airport's infrastructure and the provision of more flights and destinations for passengers.
Also, it became known that the resumption of international passenger train service on the Bishkek-Moscow route is planned for 2025, which was announced by the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Kyrgyzstan.
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