Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan agree to ramp up cargo transportations between Aktau and Türkmenbaşy
Over 100 Turkmen companies officially operating in Kazakhstan contribute to the bilateral cooperation. Murat Nurtleu, Deputy Prime Minister-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, said it following the talks with his Turkmen counterpart Rashid Meredov in Astana on May 27, Kazinform News Agency reports.
“I have invited our Turkmen brothers to join the Islamic Organization for Food Security. Our investment cooperation develops actively. More than 100 Turkmen companies registered in our country are significantly contributing to the bilateral cooperation. In turn, we are ready to invest in economy of Turkmenistan. In this regard, it is important to sign the agreement on encouragement and mutual protection of investments,” said Murat Nurtleu.
According to him, special attention is given to further active development of transit-transport cooperation – another pillar of our relations.
“Astana and Ashgabat are important and effective members of transcontinental cargo transportation system. We believe that development of Asia-Europe, Asia-Middle East routes through two countries will strengthen our countries’ role in the global community. We have agreed to comprehensively develop the potential of Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railroad line. Due to joint efforts, the volume of railroad transportations increased by 20% and reached 1.3 million tons last year,” said Murat Nurtleu.
He said that Kazakhstan backs Turkmenistan’s accession to the North-South international transport corridor.
“We have also agreed to ramp up the volume of cargo transportations between Aktau and Türkmenbaşy ports for several times. It should be noted that cargo transshipment in this direction has increased by 50% over the past three years,” added he.The Kazakh Minister highlighted that highway connections not only benefit the economies of border regions, but also significantly increase overall freight traffic
