China-Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railroad was presented on April 25 at the Kempinski Hotel in Beijing, Kazinform correspondent reports.
The event was organized by the embassies of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in China and representatives of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy Company. More than 130 guests attended the ceremony, among them were Ambassador of Kazakhstan to China Shakhrat Nuryshev, Ambassador of Turkmenistan to China Chinar Rustamova, Mayor of Xi’an city of Shaanxi province Shangguan Jiqing, Secretary of the CCP Party Committee of Lianyungang and Director of Administration of this city Wu Yiqiao, Vice President of China Railway company Huang Min, Head of the Marketing Department of the Turkmenistan Railway Transport Ministry Azat Arzymedov, Vice President for Logistics of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy Kanat Alpysbayev, representatives of the Kazakh MFA and about 40 Chinese transport companies and mass media.
“Two main transport corridors of “The Silk Road Economic Belt” run through the Central Asian territory. The first one runs from China through Kazakhstan and Russia to Europe (the Baltic Sea) and the second corridor comes from China through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to Iran and the Persian Gulf. Not everyone knows that these routes have already been built and are functioning now. The routes proved to be advantageous in the speed of delivery of goods compared to maritime transportations,” Shakhrat Nuryshev said taking the floor.
He reminded that Central Asia is a nuclear-weapon-free zone and closure of the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Testing Site 25 years ago.
“President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev is a leader of anti-nuclear movement. The Manifesto “The World. The 21st Century” initiated recently by him calls the leaders of all countries to stop wars and conflicts. The Manifesto has been recognized as an official document of the UN General Assembly. We guarantee security of transportations through our countries, as the leadership of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan pay special attention to increasing their transit and transport potential,” the Diplomat stressed.
According to him, removal of sanctions from Iran opens new prospects for the development of railroad transportations to Iran and back.
Taking the floor, Ambassador of Turkmenistan to China Chinar Rustamova noted that China-Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railroad communication shortens the distance of transportations between China and Iran more than twice, compared to maritime route.
“The new China-Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran line is the cheapest and shortest way of delivery of goods from China to the Persian Gulf markets, which is proved by the launch of the first test cargo train from China’s Yiwu to Iran in early February. The train ran about 10 000 km through the territory of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to Tehran in two weeks, thus proving technical and logistical readiness of the new railroad for regular cargo transportations,” she said.
The Turkmen Ambassador reminded that more than half a year passed since the railroad was put into operation.
“In future, we plan to hold similar meetings in other cities of China, namely in Yiwu, Xi’an, Shanghai, Urumqi, to adjust our interests in this issue. In two days, Lianyungang city will host a Turkmen-Chinese dialogue, during which our delegation will continue presenting its transit and transport potential,” she added.
Vice President of Chinese Railway Huang Min told that on January 28, 2016 a container train successfully crossed Alashankou Checkpoint and arrived in Tehran through the territories of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. It took only 16 days to pass the whole route.
“This is the first international freight train sent to the Middle East for the purpose of expanding south vector of China-Europe container train,” he noted.
Huang Min proposed to accelerate construction of infrastructure of the countries located along the corridor. He also offered to raise the standards of the route and speed of trains’ movement, to simplify customs procedures, to strengthen cooperation among the railroad administrations of all countries, to jointly lower prime cost of container trains movement and to provide preferential prices for transportations and other issues.
Mayor of Xi’an Shangguan Jiqing, Secretary of the CCP Party Committee of Lianyungang Wu Yiqiao, Head of the Turkmen Railway Transport Ministry A.Arzymedov and KTZ Vice President for Logistics K.Alpysbayev delivered speeches too.
http://inform.kz/eng/article/2897009