Kazakhstan, TRACECA discuss the development of ferry services on Caspian, Black Seas
“Such transports have great potential to provide a cheaper means of transporting goods, because when transporting a semi-trailer on a ship, there is no need to pay the labor and travel expenses of the driver, there is no need to obtain visas and the sea transport itself it costs cheaper than transportation with a tug with a semi-trailer”, emphasized the Secretary General of the Permanent Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Commission TRACECA Aset Asavbaev.
Vice Minister of Transport of Kazakhstan Satzhan Ablaliyev and Secretary General of the Permanent Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Commission TRACECA Aset Asavbayev have discussed the development of ferry services on the Caspian and Black Seas, Trend reports.
The parties also exchanged views on transportation issues in the field of road transport, including the problem of traffic congestion at the Sarpi and Red Bridge (Georgia) checkpoints.
Assavbayev informed the Vice-Minister about the current work and status of the implementation of TRACECA countries' initiatives. Discussions included the results of a pilot project for the transportation of goods by semi-trailers, in particular, the importance of implementing subcontracting measures was noted.
In addition, Assavbayev appealed to the Ministry of Transport with a request to assist in speeding up procedures to complete the approval by the Kazakh side of the text of the Agreement on the ETP (unified transit permit).
As he noted, speedy approval will make it possible to prepare the draft Agreement for signing at the next meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission. The remaining interested countries have completed the approval procedure.
The TRACECA International Program has been operating since 1993 and aims to reduce the delivery time of goods from Asia to Europe and vice versa by 2-2.5 times compared to sea transport routes –up to 12-14 days.