Kazakhstan advances Caspian hub to boost exports with littoral countries

Kazakhstan is actively working on the creation of the Caspian hub, a strategic initiative aimed at enhancing trade with the Caspian littoral countries—Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Iran, and Russia—representing a combined population of over 100 million people.

The announcement was made by Kazakhstan's Minister of Trade and Integration, Arman Shakkaliev, during a government meeting on December 10, Caliber.Az reports citing local media.

According to Shakkaliev, the Caspian hub will focus on facilitating container storage and transloading from railway wagons to sea containers, in addition to providing quality processing services.

He emphasized that the development of such infrastructure would significantly enhance trade interactions with neighboring countries, increase non-resource exports by 30 per cent, and streamline logistics for businesses.

Vice Minister of Transport Maksat Kaliakparov provided additional details, highlighting the ongoing modernization efforts at Kazakhstan’s Aktau and Kuryk seaports as part of the Caspian hub project. Kaliakparov noted that construction of a container hub at Aktau Port has already begun, with completion scheduled for the end of next year. This will increase the port’s throughput capacity to 250,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) annually. At Kuryk Port, a new grain terminal with a capacity of 1 million tons per year was launched earlier this year.

By Vafa Guliyeva