The delegation of the Agency for Transport and Communications under the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan is taking part in the 12th ministerial meeting on transport of the member countries of the Economic Cooperation Organization. The event took place in Tashkent on Thursday, November 2.

The issues of expanding cooperation in the field of trade and transport communications, the development of existing transport corridors in the region and the creation of new ones, their effective use, strengthening international cooperation in this area are discussed at the meeting.

Turkmenistan's position presented at the meeting is also based on the country's desire for effective partnership in the transport sector. To this end, the national transport infrastructure is actively developing, large investments are directed to the construction of roads and railways, port facilities on the Caspian Sea, which makes it possible to strengthen the role of Turkmenistan in international logistics and cargo transit.

Addressing his colleagues, Deputy Director General of the Agency of Transport and Communications of Turkmenistan Batyr Annayev emphasized that our country, located in the center of Eurasia, has a unique geographical position, being an important link in international transport corridors connecting East and West, North and South.

Thus, the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway plays an important role in increasing trade and transit, connecting to other regional and international transport corridors. As part of the development of the North-South international corridor, together with partners from Russia, Kazakhstan and Iran, preferential tariffs for rail container transportation along the eastern branch of this route were agreed to ensure a single through tariff for shippers throughout the route. A regular container train on the North-South MTK has already been launched. According to preliminary forecasts, by 2025 the total volume of export traffic from Russia alone on the eastern branch of this route may amount to more than 5 million tons per year.

The development of domestic shipbuilding and the expansion of the national fleet are also on the agenda. In this context, the representative of Turkmenistan informed the participants of the meeting that just yesterday the Balkan Shipyard signed a contract with the Korean Marine Equipment Association (KOMEA) for the design, joint construction and comprehensive supply of necessary parts for Multi Purpose Carriers class vessels with a displacement of 6.1 thousand tons.

Multipurpose vessels of the MPC 6.1K class are capable of transporting both bulk cargo and containers, and their characteristics are most favorable for the waters of the Caspian Sea, the Volga, Don Rivers, as well as the Black Sea.

In addition, according to EDB data, as a percentage of the indicators of 2021 to 2000, Turkmenistan is in first place in terms of the increase in the length of the public road network. In this regard, it was mentioned about the ongoing construction of the Ashgabat-Turkmenabat highway with a length of 600 km. Its Ashgabat-Tejen section with a length of 254 km was put into operation last year. And the Turkmenbashi- Garabogaz expressway planned for construction - the border with Kazakhstan with a bridge over the Garabogaz Bay should be part of the Eastern Highway Route of the North—South International Transport Corridor.

A striking example of effective cooperation is the development of the multimodal transport route CASCA+, in the implementation of which Turkmenistan actively participates. Since the launch of the route, about 30 thousand containers in 20-foot equivalent have been transported. And Turkmenistan has a special role in this project - the country's share in transportation during this period amounted to 9,000 containers in the direction of import, 12,000 containers in the direction of export and 9,000 containers in transit. The goal of the route operators is to increase the volume of container traffic to 30 thousand containers per year by reducing the delivery time.

The Turkmen side also highly appreciates Tajikistan's efforts to create a modern transit infrastructure designed to connect transport hubs with China and make the country one of the key transport corridors in global supply chains, Annayev noted, speaking about Turkmenistan's great interest in the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway construction project, which will give a powerful impetus to the development of transport links in Central Asia. Asia.

At the ministerial meeting, it was stated that Turkmenistan is ready for further partnership with other countries within the ECO and sees a huge potential for strengthening international relations in the transport sector.

A multilateral meeting of representatives of relevant ministries in the field of transport and railway administrations of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Turkey was also held on the sidelines of this event. It was devoted to the formation of the international multimodal route "China – Kazakhstan – Uzbekistan – Turkmenistan – Iran – Turkey – Europe", and its results are fixed in the relevant protocol signed by the parties.

Also these days, the 19th international exhibition "Transport and Logistics - TransLogistica Uzbekistan 2023" is being held in Tashkent, where the Turkmenbashi seaport is presented.

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