Eurasian Economic Union discusses development of IWT

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International Business News – According to the official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Serik Zhumangarin, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade and Integration of the Kazakh government, led the Kazakh delegation to participate in the regular meeting of the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission held in Moscow. At the meeting, some important issues of the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union were discussed. Discussions and decisions were made.

The meeting agenda includes 60 issues covering areas such as government procurement, mutual trade, technology, customs and tax regulation, sanitary and phytosanitary regulation, industry, energy, and international cooperation.

Kazakhstan raised one of the important issues aimed at diversifying trade routes around the Eurasian Economic Union. That is, the documents required to pass the Shipping Agreement into force. The document was signed in Almaty within the framework of the 2019 Eurasian Intergovernmental Council meeting. The agreement, which was later ratified in Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Russia, has strategic implications for Kazakhstan’s navy’s access to the high seas. Currently, cargo from the ports of the Black Sea to the ports of Kazakhstan is transported in transit through the Volga-Don river channel. The shipping agreement will facilitate the transit potential of the ports of Aktau and Kurik on the trans-Caspian international shipping route, as well as the transport of goods through the Russian inland waterway to the ports of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, and will simplify procedures through the Russian inland waterway.

Serik Zhumangarin said the development of the river will make it possible to diversify traditional trade routes, opening up new opportunities for Kazakhstan’s exports as well as other traditional modes of transport. The implementation of the agreement will also reduce the time to obtain a permit to pass Russia’s inland waterways from six months to 10 days. The Minister of Trade of Kazakhstan also suggested that it is necessary to speed up the coordination of relevant documents.