Kazakh Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov encouraged business partners to jointly implement new high-tech projects at the 16th summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) in the city of Tashkent. According to Smailov, Kazakhstan and the ECO member countries have 26 projects totaling about $3 billion that are now underway in the areas of machinery, metallurgy, subsoil use, light, chemical and construction industry. Additionally, the Prime Minister emphasized the particular importance of the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway as the shortest route between the ECO states in Central Asia and the Middle East. The cargo flow along that route to Iran has already exceeded 1.5 million tonnes for the first nine months. The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route will significantly boost the throughput capacity, Smailov noted.
“Kazakhstan is actively involved in
infrastructure and logistics projects, with a particular focus on the
development of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route. Kazakhstan,
Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey are implementing the ‘Roadmap for 2022-2027’
aimed at improving the efficiency of the Middle Corridor and simultaneously
eliminating bottlenecks along the entire route to enhance its potential. The
Beineu-Shalkar highway will be built to directly connect Uzbekistan with the
western regions of Kazakhstan and lead to the completion of the 8th TRACECA
road corridor,” said Smailov.
Another priority area for fortifying the
partnership is the promotion of interregional trade. Last year alone,
Kazakhstan’s trade turnover with the ECO states surged by 40 percent and
reached $16.5 billion. Kazakh Prime Minister stressed that the country is ready
to export nearly 100 types of goods to every country of the organization to
increase those figures. Thus, Kazakhstan is implementing large-scale projects
to build cross-border hubs.
