The first multilateral meeting of the heads of railway agencies of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan on the development of the international multimodal route was held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on December 19-20, Uzbekistan Railways Joint Stock Company said in a Sunday press release.
The participants of the meeting agreed on the importance of developing the international multimodal route "Asia-Pacific countries - China - Kyrgyzstan - Uzbekistan - Turkmenistan - Azerbaijan - Georgia - Europe", with the development of common approaches for the accelerated passage of container trains and the application of single tariffs that will significantly increase the volume of trade not only between the countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus, but also with other states of the European and Asian continent.
In this regard, the parties agreed to take coordinated measures to mutually increase the volume of goods and develop the route.
The parties exchanged views on the issues of attracting cargo volumes, developing the logistics infrastructure along the route "Kashgar - Osh (with the help of road transport) - Andijan - Farab - port of Turkmenbashi - port of Alat - Gardabani", and then on the directions of the ports of Georgia or Akhalkala - Kars - ports of Turkey.
Following the meeting, the parties adopted competitive special transit tariff rates (including for sea feeder transport) for the container trains passing along the international route.
In addition, the participants will work on the issue of accelerated passage of goods with the border and customs departments of their countries.
The launch of a test transit container train, as part of the multimodal project, is scheduled for the first quarter of 2020.
