The Ovoot-Erdenet railroad line is currently under construction in Mongolia. This railroad line is one of the key sections of the so-called “Northern Railway Corridor” – a rail highway to connect Western Siberia with the PRC, the possibility of which is envisaged in the 2016 Russia-Mongolia-China Economic Corridor Project List. The length of the Ovoot-Erdenet line is 542 kilometers and the tracks run through areas with very difficult terrain and minimal power and road transport infrastructure…

On April 15, 2024, the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev paid an official visit to Armenia. These two states are partners in a number of international organizations – the CSTO (despite turbulence related to the attitude of the Armenian leadership to this organization), the EAEU, the CIS, and the OSCE. Bilateral trade is developing dynamically: trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Armenia increased by 23% from $43.1 million to $53.1 million at the end of 2023 compared to the beginning of the year…

According to the Statistical Service of Kazakhstan, the total volume of goods transported by rail between Kazakhstan and China reached 23 million tons as early as 2022 and grew by a record 22 percent last year. In view of this high volume of freight traffic and the clear upward trend, the Kazakh authorities are having to invest heavily in the development of new railroads in order to serve the growing freight volumes and enable the rapid and efficient delivery of goods through the country…

In previous articles we have looked at the process of increasing European engagement in Inner Asia through bilateral initiatives. This time, the reader will get an overview of the interaction between the parties in the framework of the European Global Gateway initiative. On 25-26 October, Brussels hosted the Global Gateway Forum, which was soon described by journalists as “an alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative”. It is noteworthy that it took place only a week…

In 2023, the load on Kazakhstan’s Caspian ports increased by almost 10% to 6.5 million tonnes. This is still far from their maximum capacity of 21 million tonnes. Nevertheless, the country’s leadership has concerns about limiting the transport capacity of the lake in case of further shoaling of its northern sections. The costs of such circumstances promise to be significant. In this regard, in addition to the development of the Middle Corridor (ТМТМ) and dredging…

In 2023, Afghanistan experienced a limited return to economic growth and infrastructure development after several years of severing most existing ties. During the year, several significant international events occurred in Central Asia, resulting in increased global attention to the region, and a number of projects of Eurasian scale were initiated. At the end of 2023, it appears that there is a long-term interest from Afghanistan in participating in these projects…

On December 25, 2023, a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council was held in St. Petersburg. As one of the significant successes of the union last year, the meeting participants noted the conclusion of a free trade zone agreement with Iran on the eve of the meeting. Further development of EAEU ties with this country is expected to play an important role in promoting the continental North-South transport routes: they will play an important role in developing the export potential of the union’s member states, since, apart from the Russian Federation…

On December 28, 2023, the head of Kyrgyzstan’s National Investment Agency announced that the construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railroad – which is to form an important element of a planned Eurasian rail corridor – will begin in 2024. This announcement appears to signal the beginning of a new stage in the implementation of the project, which was initially proposed by the participating countries back in the 1990s, and which will have an important significance for the whole of Eurasia due…

On December 21, 2023, Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov gave the go-ahead for the construction of the new Bakhty-Ayagoz railway line in the Abay region. The project aims to construct a 272-kilometer double-track railway that will extend to the border of Kazakhstan and the PRC. The new line is expected to become operational in 2027. Currently, there are two rail border crossings with developed freight terminals on the Sino-Kazakh border: Khorgos and Dostyk-Alashankou. Almost 50% of all cargo transported along the China-Europe route passes through these border crossings…

Transport corridors remain a major obstacle to the dynamic and integrated economic development of individual States and entire regional communities on the African continent, as the quality and quantity of roads and railways do not fully meet existing needs. Some of the factors contributing to the low level of transport infrastructure development in Africa compared to the global average include…

On October 8, 2023, negotiations were held between representatives of the transport and railway departments of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Turkey to discuss the details of the new Eurasian transport corridor, designed to connect China with the European Union along a new route. This project is a development of the China-Central Asia-West Asia-Europe corridor proposed as part of the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013; however, it assumed a slightly different route configuration that did not affect…

With Yemen’s Houthi rebels launching attacks on cargo ships heading to Israel amid the escalating Arab-Israeli conflict, the world’s largest carriers are feeling the impact of the blockade of one of the world’s most popular logistics shipping routes. Here we are talking about increased freight prices by more than 20 percentage points, increased route insurance costs, as well as the risk of transport collapse due to updated ship arrival dates. All this together leads to a significant increase in the price of initial goods, numerous supply interruptions and…