Tokyo, 19 October. Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan held a conference in Tokyo on the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route for Japanese investors, attended by about 100 representatives of Japanese government agencies and logistics companies.
The sides discussed developing the Middle Corridor, making freight transport more efficient and attracting Japanese investment. Particular attention was paid to modernising customs control at the port of Aktau: a project worth up to 719 million yen provides for a large X-ray inspection complex that will cut cargo inspection time threefold. The conference also discussed launching direct flights between Almaty and Tokyo. Participants included the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the ROTOBO association, which promotes Japan's trade with Russia and the former Soviet states, and logistics companies; Kazakhstan was represented by Ambassador Yerlan Baudarbek-Kozhatayev and Azerbaijan by Ambassador Farid Talybov. According to Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry, Japan sees the route as a way to diversify its access to Central Asia and the Caucasus. Kazservice also reported the presentation.
The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, often called the Middle Corridor, carries goods from China to Europe via Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. It is called "middle" because it runs between the northern route through Russia and the southern route through Iran. Its bottlenecks are the ferry crossing of the Caspian and inspections at ports, where cargo can wait longer than it spends on the railway. That is why the X-ray complex in Aktau, which inspects containers without opening them, matters more to carriers than many other improvements: the faster the inspection, the more predictable the delivery time.
Background: The port of Aktau is Kazakhstan's main sea gateway on the Caspian; goods pass through it to Baku and on to Georgia and Turkey.
List of sources used: Kazinform, 716.kz, Kazservice
Artificial intelligence was used in preparing this material.
