Блог

Ralf-Charley Schultze, President of UIRR, spoke about the recently introduced new initiative called “Improving Combined Transport”, aimed at strengthening the industry’s position in Europe. The initiative, proposed by the European Combined Transport Industry Association, represents the interests of both operators and terminal managers in the combined transport sector. Emphasizing the key role of terminals, the association positions itself as a link between rail suppliers and logistics service providers, providing a customer-centric approach to logistics integration.

George Doborjginidze, Chairman of the Georgian Logistics Association, provided an overview of the key opportunities, bottlenecks and weaknesses that need to be addressed to ensure the smooth movement of goods along the Middle Corridor.

Liliana Krutonog, General Director of MALBI-trans s.r.o., first of all, briefly described the country in which our forum was held – Georgia. Georgia’s economic performance is impressive, with steady growth in gross domestic product and declining inflation pointing to the country’s prospects. Forecasts for the coming years are optimistic, with GDP expected to grow by 5% in 2024 and 5.5% in 2025, as well as a significant reduction in public debt.

Kazakhstan and Turkey signed an agreement to simplify cargo transportation, which opens up new prospects for trade and economic cooperation between the two countries. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has already signed a law ratifying this agreement, which is aimed at facilitating transit on railway lines, speeding up the border clearance process for container trains, as well as for rail ferry and Ro-Ro operations.

Kanat Kobesov, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the NurZhol Company, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Exporters KazGrain, began his speech by noting that in the modern world, transport corridors are becoming a focus of attention in the context of geopolitical changes and trends. Particularly noteworthy are the corridors of the Caucasus, Central Asia and China, which are now at the peak of popularity. A notable example of this trend is the launch of multimodal cargo transportation between China and Tajikistan through Kulob station in November 2022. As part of this transportation, cargo is delivered through Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey and Iran to its destination. This initiates not only the development of the trans-Afghan railway, but also ensures access for Kazakh and Uzbek cargo to Iranian ports on the Indian Sea.