New transport route to Russia eliminates need for inspections in Kazakhstan

Source:Global Times Published: 2016-2-17 23:53:01

Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region has opened its first trilateral transportation route, Chinese media reported on Wednesday, representing a step forward for the nation's "Belt and Road" initiative.

The route will allow Chinese trucks to drive to Russia directly without unloading or undergoing customs clearance and transit formalities in Kazakhstan, the Urumqi Evening News reported on Wednesday.

At a ceremony in Urumqi on Tuesday, representatives from China and Russia exchanged 1,000 permits for temporary cargo transportation via Kazakhstan, the report said.

The event marked the full implementation of a transportation cooperation agreement signed by China and Russia at the end of 2015.

The agreement is formally called the Agreement between the Ministry of Transport of the People's Republic of China and the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation on Temporary Transportation of Cargo by Automobile Transport via the Territories of the Republic of Kazakhstan, according to a statement published Tuesday on the website of the Transport Department of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

On December 17, 2015, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang signed a number of documents in Beijing. The cargo agreement was among them.

The transport department statement also said Russia's Altai, Kemerovo and Novosibirsk, which are Xinjiang's neighboring regions, are developed in terms of heavy industry while being relatively weak in light industry and agriculture. Their major exports are oil, natural gas, minerals and timber, with major imports of basic consumer goods.

In this sense, it said, the different resources and economic structures in China's Xinjiang and other western regions will allow for complementary bilateral economic cooperation.

The new logistics arrangement is a milestone in opening up transportation channels between China and Europe under the "Belt and Road" initiative, the director of the Xinjiang transport department, was quoted as saying in media report.

Previously, Chinese exports leaving Xinjiang for Russia were unloaded in Kazakhstan for customs checks before re-exported to the final destination, which affected the development of Sino-Russian trade. As a result of the new arrangement, transit procedures at Kazakhstan have been simplified, greatly shortening transit times and distances.

Statistics from the Xinjiang transport department showed that the province has established 107 international routes with neighboring countries and regions, which transported 4.15 million tons of cargo in 2015.



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