Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway has a great potential, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said during his speech at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Uzbek city Samarkand on Friday, Trend news agency reports.
"I would like to point separately to the priority vectors of economic cooperation the transit and transport sector, food and energy security. The adoption of the Concept of Cooperation between the SCO countries on the development of effective economic and transport corridors has been a serious achievement in improving logistical interconnectedness," Tokayev stated.
According to him, the matter concerns the rail transportation in the China - Europe direction and the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, as well as plans to build a third railway crossing point on the border between Kazakhstan and China.
"I invite SCO partners to use the opportunities that are opening up in this regard. Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway has a serious potential, which opens the shortest route from East Asia to the countries of the Persian Gulf,” Tokayev stated, adding that, “Transit and transport cooperation between Kazakhstan and the states of Central Asia is developing dynamically."
He added that Kazakhstan welcomes the implementation of promising projects aimed at ensuring the interconnectedness of the countries of the region.
During speech at the SCO summit, President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov expressed his countries readiness to cooperate with the SCO countries in establishing intercontinental and regional transit routes.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is an intergovernmental organization founded in Shanghai in June 2001. The SCO member countries are China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan. The SCO observer countries are Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia, and the partner countries are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey and Sri Lanka.