ASTANA: Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have agreed on measures to expand train exchanges and increase the reception of grain and food cargo through the Saryagash interstate junction point, Qazinform News Agency reports citing the press service of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy.
As part of the visit of the Kazakh delegation, a multilateral meeting was held at the Saryagash junction and in Tashkent involving the authorized bodies of Uzbekistan. The parties agreed on joint decisions to ensure the uninterrupted transportation of grain cargo through Saryagash to Central Asia and Afghanistan. Following the meeting, it was decided to increase train exchanges to 35 pairs per day, and to ensure that the Uzbek side receives at least 10 trains with grain and 5 trains with food products daily.
Special attention was paid to unloading wagons, the functioning of access roads, and the operation of authorized services on a 24/7 basis, including weekends and holidays. In addition, the parties agreed to plan export shipments taking into account the free capacities of grain cargo recipients in Uzbekistan and the coordinated turnover of empty wagons.
The measures taken are set to stabilize logistics chains and improve the efficiency of Kazakh grain supplies to the Uzbek market and neighboring countries. According to Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, in the first 11 months of this year, the volume of transportation between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan amounted to 28.5 million tons, which is 4 million tons (16%) more compared to the same period of last year. Grain transportation rose by 32%, reaching 5.6 million tons.
More than 1.2 million tons of Kazakh grain were exported in November. As reported earlier, the Kazakh Government earmarked 7 billion tenge to compensate the costs of transporting and encourage grain shipments to priority markets. –Agencies
