Developing transport and logistics infrastructure of our countries, we are creating the preconditions for increasing the trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Russia

The Deputy Chairman of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan "Atameken" Nurzhan Altaev declared this during the panel session on "Development of Kazakhstan and the Russian transport and logistics complex in the context of ensuring effective business needs", held in the framework of XIII Forum of interregional cooperation of Kazakhstan and Russia,.

According to him, NCE RK "Atameken" works on a continuous basis on reduction of the administrative barriers and restrictions on transport and logistics operations on the territory of the EAEU.

 "Being in the center of the Eurasian continent, Kazakhstan and Russia are strategic partners in economic and political relations. Given the geographic location of Kazakhstan, the direction and volume of trade flows on the continent, the head of state in 2011 launched a strategic initiative for making Kazakhstan the Eurasian business and transit hub, the global infrastructure of integration and the revival of the "Great Silk Road". The idea of ​​the head of state to revive the historic role of Kazakhstan as a bridge between East and West, North and South is significantly correlated and synchronized with the Chinese project "Economic belt of the Silk Road", - said Nurzhan Altaev.

He added that infrastructural development is the core of the New Economic Policy "Nurly Zhol – The Pathway to the Future", initiated by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan N.A. Nazarbayev in 2014.

So, within the frames of "Nurly Zhol", JSC "NC" Kazakstan Temir Zholy" successfully implements infrastructure projects, which generally increase the attractiveness of the trans-Kazakhstani routes.

The construction of the road section on the territory of Kazakhstan of the international transport corridor "Western Europe - Western China" (RoK length – is 2787 km) is almost finished.

"Developing the transport and logistics infrastructure of our countries, we are creating the preconditions for increasing the trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Russia and, in general, between the states of the Eurasian continent. An example - the organization of container service on the route PRC-Europe-PRC via Kazakhstan and Russia", - said the deputy chairman of the Board of NCE.

 As it was noted by Altaev, the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan jointly with state bodies of Kazakhstan on a permanent basis has been working on elimination of administrative barriers and restrictions on transport and logistics operations on the territory of the EAEU. "However, despite the elimination of certain barriers, some of the participants of the economic activities of the EAEU Member States for some reason face them again", - said the deputy chairman of NCE.

He added that "However, we are witnessing the creation of joint Kazakh-Russian enterprises (railway sector - JSC" OTLK", road transport - 3 companies), which are largely important for the development of trade relations".

In addition, he said, waterway freight traffic between Kazakhstan and Russia has improved (94.2 thousand tons were transported in 2015, 127.3 thousand tons in the first 9 months of 2016).

Noting that the National Chamber of entrepreneurs is ready for multilateral cooperation in the field of business, Nurzhan Altaev invited Russian business community to participate in the implementation of joint projects in Kazakhstan.

Vice-President of OJSC "Russian Railways" Salman Babayev, in his speech focused on the development of international transport corridors "Asia - Europe". He noted that Kazakhstan and Russia - support a land bridge from Asia to Europe. According to him, this year the transit traffic from China through Kazakhstan, from Europe to Kazakhstan increased by 2.5 times compared to the previous year. There is potential for development in the future. "The formation of the majority of the Euro-Asian transport corridors of united economic space creates favorable conditions and incentives for the transit potential of transcontinental railway communications", - said the head of the Russian Railways.

During the discussion, the Kazakh side raised the issue of implementation of the new system "Platon" in the autumn of last year at the Russian checkpoints, which caused widespread discontent among motor carriers of both Russia and Kazakhstan. As it was noted by the head of the Federal Road Agency of the Russian Federation Roman Starovoit, it successfully operates. On a daily basis cash is accumulated at the federal fund, they have already received nearly 13.5 billion rubles in less than a year, and it is aimed at solving the major issues associated with the construction, repair and reconstruction of roads. "This system applies to all 50 thousand kilometers of federal highways on the territory of Russia, except for toll roads. At the heart of this system is the principle "user pays", according to which the business is directly responsible for their activities and any damage that is applied to public infrastructure. Such an approach is justified, since the impact of a truck weighing over 12 tons on the road surface, according to science, is equivalent to about 40 thousand exposed passages of cars", - said R.Starovoyt. According to him, charging system assumes that every truck weighing more than 12 tons must be equipped with an onboard device that is using GPS GLONASS technology to determine the distance traveled, and charging takes place in a non-stop mode for a vehicle. "Systems of fixed and mobile control follow it, all data is collected at the monitoring control center, where comprehensive information is available to users around the clock at information support centers. The development and establishment of broader road corridors of Eurasia presents an opportunity for countries on the route, to benefit from the movement of goods and services. Overland routes linking Asia and Europe are becoming more economically viable. And another advantage of this is that they increase the accessibility of the countries themselves, along which the transport corridor is located", - said the head of the Federal Road Agency.

Roman Starovoit advised Kazakh colleagues in the implementation of such a system to analyze all possible risks in detail. He also said that their mistake was the lack of awareness among citizens.

"We had to deal with hundreds of appeals from transport unions. But another problem was revealed as a result of it - some of these carriers were in the gray zone", - said R. Starovoyt.