Partners Leg

On October 4, a meeting was held in Moscow between CEO and Chairman of the board of Russian Railways, OJSC, Oleg Beloziorov and Interim Chairman of the board of Uzbekiston Temir Yullari, JSC, Zufar Narzullayev where they discussed all the areas the two companies are going to be cooperating in.

When the meeting was over, a memorandum was concluded setting the course for the deepening of cooperation in the area of railroad shipments between Russia and Uzbekistan. The document envisages the development of bilateral and transit railroad transport between Russia and Uzbekistan as well as bringing to fruition the potential of existing railroads and the development of future international multimodal transport corridors.

The two countries’ railroad administrations have already enjoyed a positive experience cooperating thus far. For instance, according to the Head Marketing and Logistics at “Uzbekiston Temir Yullari,” JSC, Umidulla Ibragimov, today privileged rates have been adopted for refrigerated containers cargo shipments with a volume of 40 feet or more via the railroads of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Russia. Talks are ongoing between the two countries’ foreign economic agencies on implementing the Agroexpress project, which involves organizing route shipments of food products between Uzbekistan and Russia utilizing the two countries’ infrastructures.

The Uzbekistani side actively speaks out in favor of developing a new multimodal Belarus-Russia-Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan corridor.

“In November, a memorandum is planned to be signed between high-profile ministers of Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan,” Udimulla Ibragimov stated during his speech at the plenary session “Transport and Logistics Partnership: Russia and Uzbekistan in a World of New Challenges” Forum III on international cooperation between Russia and Uzbekistan, which took place on October 4 in Kazan.

In the opinion of Uzbekistani deputy minister of transport Nuriev Zhasurbek, the new corridor has now rendered the route to South Asia cheaper and shorter than alternative projects. The new route is 900 km shorter than the shortest, the Western, branch of the North-South ITC.

The Central Asian Republic would really like to see Russia among the participants of global projects in creating transport corridors practically across the entire continent,” he noted.

According to Pavel Ivankin, the President of the National Center for Transportation and Infrastructure, the parties have a good groundwork for increasing transit flow..

“More productive work in this area requires both sides’ to digitally mature. In that area, the expertise of Russian Railroads is quite high,” the expert noted.

We will note that in the memorandum signed by Russian Railways, OJSC, and Uzbekiston Temir Yullari, JSC, key areas for cooperation also include continued consultations on integration of the latest IT solutions and implementation of the best digital business transformation practices. On October 5, during his visit to Moscow, the Minister of Transport of Uzbekistan Ilkhom Makhkamov and CEO of “Uzbekiston Temir Yullari,” JSC, Zufar Narzullayev were acquainted with the work of the Main Administration Center of Russian railroads where they had the chance to evaluate the level of digitalization of Russian railway transport first-hand.

In the opinion of deputy CEO of IERT, JSC (daughter company of Russian Railways, OJSC), Aleksey Zamkovoy, new prospective railroad routes via the territory of Afghanistan taking part in creating an Eastern branch of the North-South ITC could be utilized in fostering the commercial and economic ties of Russia, Belarus, and the central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan) both with Afghanistan itself and with other South Asian countries. In implementing the construction plans for the new railroad lines on the territory of Afghanistan, additional future international goods traffic will also be attracted onto the railroad infrastructure of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.

An analysis of the mutual trade and cargo shipments indicators along the Russian Railways, OJSC, network coursing between Russia and Afghanistan testifies to the fact that over 90% of trade volume between the countries is carried out via railroad transportation. Meanwhile, 75% of goods traffic comprising the trade between Russia and Afghanistan pass through the Galaba railroad crossing point and then along the Hairatan-Mazar-e-Sharif line, which will be extended to eventually become a railroad all the way across Afghanistan.

“Additional goods traffic can be attracted onto Russia's railroad infrastructure for shipments transported from Afghanistan as mutual trade volumes between the countries grows, which will be fully determined by the medium-term economic growth rates of Afghanistan,” Aleksey Zamkovoy summarized.

Sergey Volkov