【By Observer News, Chen Sijia】Central Asian country Kazakhstan is actively promoting the "Middle Corridor", seeking to become a channel connecting China and Europe. According to a report by Hong Kong's South China Morning Post on October 9, a Kazakh official said that although Kazakhstan is closely cooperating with China in trade digitization, the country still needs more infrastructure investment to achieve its goal of becoming a "bridge between Asia and Europe".

After the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022, Western countries imposed a series of economic sanctions on Russia, so many exporters turned to the "Middle Corridor", which connects China and Europe through Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey, using a combination of rail, road, and sea transport.

Asset Nussupov, Deputy Minister of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan, said on the 6th that the "Middle Corridor" is an opportunity to leverage the country's transportation potential, but its development still faces some problems, "One of the bottlenecks is the differences in customs and logistics procedures, which have become obstacles for goods traveling between China and Europe."

Nussupov said that Kazakhstan is closely pushing forward related construction work, including building a route from western Kazakhstan through the Caspian Sea to Pakistani ports. Kazakhstan will accelerate the flow of goods along the railway through infrastructure development, aiming to position itself as a "transit hub", with expected trade volume growth of 30% over the next five years.

Asset Nussupov, Government website of Kazakhstan

He cited a World Bank report, stating that by 2030, trade volume along the "Middle Corridor", especially the section across the Caspian Sea, is expected to reach three times the level four years ago, approximately 11 million tons per year, including about 4 million tons of container cargo.

Nussupov added that this growth is mainly driven by Kazakhstan, with the expected export contribution being the largest. He stated that Kazakhstan needs more infrastructure investment, and without such investment, it would be difficult to achieve "such impressive figures".

Customs data showed that the bilateral trade volume between China and Kazakhstan reached 30.68 billion U.S. dollars in the first eight months of this year, an increase of 5.7% compared to the previous year. Nussupov revealed that more than 7,500 types of Kazakh products are now sold on Chinese e-commerce platforms.

In July this year, China and Kazakhstan signed a strategic agreement to focus on developing the cross-Caspian international transport route. The two sides agreed to deepen cooperation in areas such as railway transportation, logistics, process digitization, and infrastructure development. Kazakh media said that the signing of this agreement marked a new stage in the partnership between the two countries in the field of transportation.

Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Economy Zhumangalin told Bloomberg in an interview last month that China has replaced Russia as Kazakhstan's largest trading partner. With Kazakhstan's plan to build new railways and create a transportation corridor spanning the country's east and west, the transportation of goods from China is expected to continue to grow significantly.

Zhumangalin said that this will enable Kazakhstan to transform from an "inland country" into a "land-linked country".

Aside from the "Middle Corridor", China is also actively promoting the construction of other transport routes in Central Asia. The 523-kilometer China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway started construction in December last year. Once completed, this railway will be the shortest route for transporting goods from China to Europe and the Middle East, shortening the freight distance by 900 kilometers and saving 7 to 8 days of time.

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