"Today's reality is a reversal of cargo flows to the East and Asia"
The EAEU countries are discussing with Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iran, India, Qatar, Kenya, the UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Uzbekistan their participation in the development of the North-South transport corridor, EEC Minister for Energy and Infrastructure Arzybek Kozhoshev told Izvestia. The discussion is being held both in bilateral format and on the platform of the Eurasian Economic Commission. The main task is to build a "seamless" logistics. The Union is actively developing digitalization in rail, road and air transport. In particular, the parties are working on the possibility of introducing an information database of aviation events in the EAEU space for flight safety management systems of the Union's countries. On the expansion of transport corridors in 2025 and cooperation of the Union with third countries - in an exclusive interview with Arzybek Kozhoshev "Izvestia".
"The project of joint measures of the EAEU and CIS on transport corridors until 2030 has been prepared"
- Earlier it was reported that the EEC and the CIS executive committee plan to prepare a plan of joint activities aimed at the development of transport corridors until 2030. What main projects will be included in it?
- In order to deepen integration and join efforts with the CIS on the development of transport infrastructure in the Eurasian space, we came up with an initiative to involve the EEC in the work of coordinating bodies acting in accordance with the agreement on the development of international transport corridors in the territory of the CIS member states. The initiative was supported by the Ministers of Transport of the EAEU and CIS member states.
The project of joint measures on transport corridors of the EAEU and the CIS until 2030 has been prepared. It provides for the preparation and implementation of documents constituting the EAEU and CIS rights in the field of transport, infrastructure, logistics and development of international transport corridors. Thus, the two largest integration associations in the Eurasian space - EAEU and CIS will be able to synchronize their work in the development of transport infrastructure and transport in general.
Now the draft plan is being coordinated in the CIS countries, we are waiting for the results of coordination and plan to sign the document in the near future.
"The North-South project is important for all EAEU countries"
- The North-South project is considered to be extremely important for Russia. How do the EAEU countries interact on this track and are there plans to attract new participants to the corridor next year?
- The EAEU countries pay increased attention to the development of the North-South international transport corridor as one of the priority areas of transportation development for the Union as a whole. The corridor is considered to be one of the promising projects designed to provide a new level of transport connectivity of our countries with the markets of key partners. It is also envisaged that it will become a powerful and reliable Eurasian transportation route in the formation of a sustainable transportation framework of the EAEU.
Construction of the North-South highway in Kyrgyzstan
The search for new trade routes has always been a priority on the EAEU agenda. Today's realities are the reversal of cargo flows to the East and Asia, towards the Global South. It is important to make the new routes as convenient and accessible for use as possible. Therefore, the transportation corridors, which are considered traditional and pass through the territory of our countries, have received a new reading. This also applies to the North-South project.
It is important for all EAEU countries. But not only for them. The Eurasian transport corridors, which in idea may well be regarded as the Eurasian transport framework, have become key logistical elements that connect the EAEU countries with the Middle and Far East, East Africa and South Asia. This is one of the priority areas of transportation development for the EAEU as a whole. That is why the work on the development of the three main routes of the southern part of the North-South ITC - trans-Caspian, western and eastern.
Measures are being implemented to develop the ports of the Caspian basin and establish direct ferry service on the Caspian Sea. Work is also underway to organize regular container service and "rolling out" container transportation routes. In addition, decisions are being made to establish special tariff conditions for transportation and work is underway to speed up customs control.
In addition, this year the Government of the Republic of Armenia presented the "Crossroads of the World" initiative. According to it, it is planned to increase transport connectivity with neighboring countries by rail and road and to increase the capacity of the North-South ITC in the part passing through the territory of Armenia.
Russia is also working on Turkmenistan's accession to the agreement on the international transport corridor "North-South". To create a unified network of the corridor's western route, a decision was also made on Russia's participation in the project to build the Resht-Astara railroad line.
With Iran, which has applied for observer status at the EAEU, and Uzbekistan, which is already an observer at the EAEU, as well as with other countries - India, Qatar, UAE, Oman, Azerbaijan, Kenya, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia - participation in the development of bilateral and transit transportation along this corridor is being studied. All efforts are aimed at eliminating bottlenecks and building a "seamless" logistics.
"We are working on launching a pilot project on the use of electronic international transportation bills e-CMR"
- Why does the EAEU need digitalization in the transport sector and what projects are being discussed or implemented with the support of the EEC?
- Digital transformation is a way to create a "seamless logistics" in order for the transit potential of the EAEU countries to be fully realized. Digitalization provides tools for solving such tasks, thus creating a kind of ecosystem with the inclusion of different solutions and approaches.
The EAEU countries are doing a lot in this direction. For our part, we are also doing our part. For example, today the EAEU has developed and agreed on common approaches to cooperation in the digitalization of transport activities, and identified promising areas for the development of integration in this area. In addition, information support for automobile control at the external border of the EAEU has been created. The project includes exchange of information on the results of transportation control, including data on payment of fees, fines and elimination of violations. All this happens in real time. So far, the process is working at the level of government agencies. In the future, carriers will also have access to it and will be able to receive the necessary data through national information systems.
A very important element of the digitalization of transport is electronic document management. For example, the EAEU has already implemented an initiative of railway operators to switch to paperless exchange of transportation and shipping documents. Railroads of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia have switched to paperless technologies for almost all freight transportation except for certain categories of cargo.
Motor transport is also preparing such an innovation. We are working on launching a pilot project for the use of electronic international consignment notes e-CMR. Such a pilot has already been implemented by Russia and Belarus, with positive results. It is expected that the application of the technology will reduce the time for cargo clearance by dozens of times. At the same time, it should be understood that the project requires national operators to have electronic document flow, recognize the legal status of the consignment note, and cross-border interaction at the B2B level.
Another vector of development is the introduction of intelligent systems in transportation activities. The Commission focused on the development of the concept of interaction of national systems. Preparation of the concept for their interaction is in the final stage. Its implementation will make it possible to create a single space in which carriers will receive standardized information on weather conditions, possible congestion and road accidents.
We have not neglected air traffic in the EAEU either. An initiative is being developed to introduce an information database of aviation events across the Union for the countries' safety management systems. This is necessary to coordinate the efforts of member states to take a unified approach to the application of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards and practices in the field of flight safety.
All these measures will contribute to the creation of a developed transportation infrastructure network in the Greater Eurasia region that is receptive to intelligent technologies and digital solutions.
- Starting from the first quarter of 2025, Belarus will be included in the Seamless Transit project. How much will this affect the efficiency of the corridor?
- In November, representatives of Kazakhstan at a meeting of the EEC Advisory Committee on Transport and Infrastructure presented the "Seamless Transit" project, which was launched in May this year along the route China - Kazakhstan - Uzbekistan. The project simplifies freight transportation in the region of Central Asia, the Trans-Caspian route and Transcaucasian countries. It is possible to automatically administer container transportation by rail on routes from China to Central Asia and Europe through the railway checkpoint Altynkol on the Kazakhstan-China border.
The plan is to launch it on the route China - Kazakhstan - Russia - Belarus in the first quarter of 2025. It is assumed that the developers of the digital platform will assess the possibility of scaling the project to road transportation within the EAEU.
- Russia and Kyrgyzstan are working on the creation of a new route for the organization of mutual cargo transportation. It was reported that this logistics route for the delivery of goods will pass through the waters of the Caspian Sea, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. At what stage is the project now?
- The project of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan on construction of the railroad "China - Kyrgyzstan - Uzbekistan", which will become a new railroad wide transport route, was discussed on the platform of the EEC. It was decided to implement it at the national level, it is not included in the list of priority projects of the EAEU and on the platform of the EEC. Currently, the Kyrgyz side is implementing this project.
It should be noted that the project of this railroad has many possible options for further development of the route - both to Russia (through the port of Turkmenbashi - port of Astrakhan / port of Olya / port of Makhachkala), and to Turkey, Europe and Afghanistan.
Turkmenbashi Port
Earlier, the leadership of Kyrgyzstan noted that the process of development of the system of transport corridors is going through a period of their unification, and announced the imminent construction of a road that will connect the north and south of the republic, as well as provide a crossing of the paths "North - South" and "East - West". Preliminarily, the road will run through Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and include the water area of the Caspian Sea.
Thus, the development of road transport corridors and the connection of roads and railways of the Kyrgyz Republic with roads and railroads of neighboring countries will not only provide an increase in transit and economic potential of the country, but also significantly simplify the movement of goods between the republic and neighboring countries.
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