Ensuring transport connectivity in Eurasia depends on Russia and Kazakhstan. The volumes of transport between the two countries are constantly growing, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said after talks in Astana with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
„Ensuring transport connectivity in Eurasia largely depends on our countries. Kazakhstan and Russia are working productively to develop the North-South and East-West transcontinental corridors“, Tokayev noted. He added that „freight traffic between Kazakhstan and Russia is constantly growing“. „Last year, it reached 92 million tons“, the Kazakh leader announced.
Companies from Russia and Kazakhstan are implementing several large projects in the automotive industry, agricultural machinery and metal mining. This was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin in a statement after the Russian-Kazakh talks.
“Companies from both countries are implementing a number of large projects in the automotive industry, agricultural machinery and the production of mineral fertilizers, and are strengthening their partnership in the extraction of rare earth metals such as tungsten, molybdenum and lithium“, the head of state said.
In addition, Russia and Kazakhstan are working together to develop key Eurasian transport and logistics corridors and routes, improve the capacity of border crossings and expand mutual transportation by rail, water and air, Putin noted.
He also recalled the launch of an innovative project for unmanned cargo transportation between the two countries. “We just saw this clearly in the video presentation. Joint operations are underway at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Through joint efforts, a new Baiterek launch pad has been created, from which, as the president also said, a new advanced carrier rocket “Soyuz-5“ was launched into space a month ago, the Russian leader added.
Kazakhstan's Energy Minister Erlan Akkenzhenov and Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev signed an intergovernmental agreement to expand cooperation in the oil sector. The ceremony followed talks between the presidents of Russia and Kazakhstan.
Earlier, Akkenzhenov told reporters that Russia and Kazakhstan had prepared an agreement that provides for an increase in the transit of Russian oil to China via Kazakhstan by 2.5 million tons. According to him, additional calculations and a feasibility study of the project have not yet been completed. Akkenzhenov noted that in order to increase oil supplies along this route, it is necessary to build additional pumping stations and expand the pipeline.