The second meeting of heads of railway administrations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation member states was held in Nur-Sultan on September 19.
“The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is an important mechanism of multilateral cooperation and a dialogue platform for resolving pressing issues of trade and economic cooperation in the region,” said Sauat Mynbayev, Chairman of the Management Board of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy NC JSC, in his welcome. speech, emphasising the importance of joint efforts by railway administrations in the interests of SCO countries. “One of the main areas of cooperation is the development of transport corridors, which allows us to speed up and reduce the cost of logistics, increasing cargo transportation,” Mr Mynbayev said.
In Kazakhstan, much attention is paid to creating favourable conditions for freight traffic growth throughout the country along the East-West, North-South and TRACECA international transport corridors. Particular emphasis is placed on infrastructure development. Thanks to measures taken over eight months in 2019, container transit through the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan increased by 35% compared to the same period in 2018.
There are positive results from the coordinated efforts of the participating countries on the Trans-Caspian international transport route. The key link on this route is the seaports of Aktau and Kuryk, with a throughput of over 26 million tonnes. Tariffs for transportation via TITR through the territory of Kazakhstan from Europe, Turkey and the Caucasus to China were reduced three times.
The meeting participants noted the importance of working together to determine cooperation priorities for achieving the transit potential of the region and increasing the SCO countries’ transport competitiveness.
Mr Mynbaev expressed confidence that the meeting of heads of railway administrations would give a powerful impetus to further cooperation.
The meeting participants reviewed the status of implementation of decisions from the first meeting held in September 2018 in Tashkent, and approved the Regulation on the Working Group and the Work Plan of the Meeting of Heads of Railway Administrations of the SCO Member States for 2020-2022. The draft concept for interaction between the railway administrations of the SCO member states in the field of railway transport was also approved.
The minutes were signed following the meeting. The next meeting of heads of railway administrations of SCO countries will be held in Russia.
(Source: KTZ)
