The Eurasian Agroexpress project will include transportation to Turkmenistan, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and India

February 3, Moscow. The Eurasian Agroexpress project will include transportation to Turkmenistan, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and India. This was reported to BelTA in the trade block of the Eurasian Economic Commission following the meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council, which took place on February 2-3 in Almaty, in which Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko took part.

"The heads of government of the EAEU countries supported the proposal of the Eurasian Economic Commission to include in the joint integration project "Eurasian Agroexpress" transportation carried out along the international transport corridor" North - South "in the direction of Turkmenistan, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the United Arab Emirates and the Republic of India. The relevant order of the Eurasian of the Intergovernmental Council was adopted within the framework of the meeting held on February 2-3 in Almaty," the EEC said.

"Due to the reorientation of a number of transport routes, the demand for the North-South corridor has increased significantly. Pilot shipments to Iran and India made under the project have confirmed the attractiveness of the direction. Our countries here have great potential to expand their transit and EXPORT potential," commented decision by Andrey Slepnev, Member of the Board (Minister) in charge of Trade of the EEC.

At the same time, he especially noted the excess of the planned indicators of the Eurasian Agroexpress for the first year of its operation. In total, 525.5 thousand tons were transported under the project in 2022, including 282.9 thousand tons of refrigerated cargo. The product range included chicken and beef MEAT, MILK powder , oil and fat, fruits and vegetables and legumes. “Despite the current restrictions on the supply of products by CHINA due to the pandemic, multimodal transportation to this country was carried out very actively,” Andrey Slepnev emphasized.

However, according to him, within the framework of the project, a number of aspects were identified that impede effective work. In particular, the problem concerns obtaining permits for the import of frozen products to China via overland railway routes through the Dostyk-Alashankou and Altynkol-Khorgos border crossings. Its solution could give a significant gain in terms of cost and time of delivery of goods in comparison with multimodal transportation through the ports of the Far East.

"In this regard, the EEC was instructed to work with the authorized bodies of the interested states - members of the Eurasian Economic Union on the issue of reaching agreements with the PRC on the elimination of restrictive measures and the optimization of customs and other administrative procedures," the EEC added.

The initiative to implement a joint project of the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union on the implementation of accelerated container rail and multimodal transportation of agricultural products "Eurasian Agroexpress" was supported in 2022 by the order of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council. The priority of the project is the development of regular accelerated deliveries of agricultural products and foodstuffs of the Member States both on the domestic market and on the markets of third countries.

Photo by Pavel Orlovsky