The Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) national railway company and Vietnam Railways agreed Feb. 20 to cooperate in container transport along the Vietnam – China – Kazakhstan – Europe route.

 

The agreement follows an earlier agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and Vietnam to increase trade from $4 billion to $10 billion by 2020.
 

The decision was made during a meeting in Hanoi to discuss international transportation, which included KTZ head Kanat Alpysbayev, Vietnam Railways Chief Executive Officer Vu Ta Tung and Vietnam Minister of Transportation Truong Quang Nghia. Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to Vietnam Beketzhan Zhumakhanov and representatives of the Food Corporation and Kazakh Association of Exporters of Agricultural Products also participated, according to the KTZ press service.
 

The group also discussed shipping agricultural products from the Kazakh to Vietnamese market as well as transporting tropical foods and seafood from Vietnam to Kazakhstan. They also spoke favourably of increasing agricultural shipments, which would help grow cargo traffic between Vietnam and Kazakhstan
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The Kazakh side also reported on the first pilot shipment of grain from the Kazakh-Chinese container terminal at the port of Lianyungang to the port of Ho Chi Minh. The pilot shipment was operated by a subsidiary of KTZ – the multimodal company KTZ Express – together with the Chinese-Kazakhstan international logistics company of Lianyungang city. The transport and logistics terminal at the port of Lianyungang is a joint venture of Port Lianyungang Ltd. and KTZ Express. Transportation of Kazakh goods using Lianyungang port contributes to the development of the Silk Road Economic Belt initiative.