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…

On November 27, 2023, it became known about beginning of the construction of a new railroad in Kazakhstan. Construction is underway in the Turkestan Region, the southernmost region of the country. The length of the section under construction (Darbaza-Maktaaral station) is 152 kilometers, which is difficult to call a large-scale project for such a big country as Kazakhstan. The second phase of the project involves connection of the new railroad branch with the Uzbekistan railroad network through the border station…

Certain treasured wishes and memories inevitably visit us again and again, and such recurrent visions can be a painful experience. Such is certainly the case for almost one in two of Mongolia’s people, who are left waiting as the country once again raises the question of building a subway in the city of Ulaanbaatar. The megacity, which has almost tripled in size since the beginning of the 21st century, now houses almost half of the country’s population, accounts for an even greater share…

Mongolia hosted official activities held by the Mongolian government as part of the “Mongolia Transport Week 2023” in early November 2023. Participating in the “week” were the nation’s prime minister, the Speaker of the State Great Khural, the Minister and Vice Minister of Road and Transport Development, representatives of major foreign and Mongolian corporations, the Civil Aviation Authority of Mongolia…

Mongolia signed a number of international air transport agreements in October 2023. So, on October 17 of this year, the General Directorate of Civil Aviation of Mongolia signed a memorandum of understanding with the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and an air service agreement with Vietnam, both of which stated that the parties were willing to give up their airspace to allow free passage for their aircraft. A similar agreement was signed the day before with the Lao People’s Democratic Republic’s aviation authorities. A week earlier, namely on October 10, 2023…