The Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Kyrgyzstan are working on an additional route in the direction: Kyrgyzstan - Uzbekistan - Turkmenistan - Russia (along the Caspian Sea from the port of Turkmenbashi to the ports of Astrakhan and Makhachkala). This is done in order to optimize routes for the development of trade, the press service of the Ministry of Transport and Communication of Kyrgyzstan reported.
Representatives of the Cabinet of Ministers and business of Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have already visited Astrakhan, where they discussed the implementation of multimodal cargo transportation using the ports of the Caspian Sea.
The Kyrgyz delegation got acquainted with the activities of three ports of the Astrakhan region - JSC "Astrakhan Sea Port", PJSC "Astrakhan Port", JSC GC "Armada". The Kyrgyz side noted that it is ready to provide a daily flow of 40 vehicles with the prospect of increasing the flow to 150-200 vehicles along this route. At the meeting, it was noted that for this it is necessary to provide the required number of ferries for regular flights.
The Association of Carriers of Kyrgyzstan stated that it could act as an operator for the rental of ferries. The Ministry of Transport and Communications of Kyrgyzstan sent an official request to the government of the Astrakhan region on the terms of the lease of ferries.
It should be admitted that not everyone understands why it is necessary to look for some other routes, if goods to Russia can, as before, be delivered by land through Kazakhstan.
Answering such questions, the head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Kyrgyzstan, Temir Sariev, replied: “Yes, goods from Russia go directly through Kazakhstan and back, but tariff policy and procedural issues are very important here. It often happens that the closest route, for various reasons, is much more expensive for carriers, and the goods take longer than we would like. As they say, a person will always look for where it is better, and business - where it is faster and cheaper. Business has no boundaries and never stands still.”
Goods in the direction of Russia from Kyrgyzstan were delivered in transit through Kazakhstan. However, due to bureaucratic obstacles and the regular tightening of customs regulations in Kazakhstan, cargo and goods from Kyrgyzstan were delayed at the borders of Kazakhstan during customs inspections. Kyrgyzstan's repeated attempts to resolve the issue through negotiations have not yielded any results so far. Probably because of this, the authorities of Kyrgyzstan are forced to explore alternative routes for the transit of goods from and to Kyrgyzstan.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
February 13, 2023