Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s upcoming visit to Turkmenistan this year was discussed during a meeting of Kazakh First Deputy Foreign Minister Rapil Zhoshybayev in the Turkmen foreign ministry, the Turkmen government said Oct. 13.
“During the negotiations, the parties reaffirmed the two countries’ mutual commitment to further intensify a bilateral dialogue, discussed the situation in the region, the priorities of developing the Turkmen-Kazakh cooperation in various fields, as well as through the foreign ministries,” a statement says.
Earlier it was reported that the Kazakh president’s visit can be timed to the completion of a joint Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway construction project with Iran, which began in 2007 on the basis of a tripartite agreement.
The new railway will ensure convenient transportation of goods to South Asia to the Persian Gulf ports and respectively in the opposite direction – through Russia to Eastern Europe.
Moreover, modal redistribution of transit goods, i.e. modal shifting in cargo transportation from road, sea and air transport to the railway will be possible.
According to the preliminary estimates, 3-5 million metric tons of cargo per year will be initially transported through this route and the volumes will increase to 10-12 million metric tons in the future. The project was implemented with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank.
