01.11.24
“Our task is to increase the volume of transported products through the Caspian Sea along the Middle Corridor up to 10 million tons in the next 3 years,” said Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Alibek Kuantyrov during a briefing for the foreign press in Astana on October 31.
Deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan cited data on the growth of cargo transportation along the Middle Corridor. According to the Deputy Minister, for eight months of 2024, the volume of freight traffic along this route increased by 70% to 3.3 million tons.
The Middle Corridor, as the Deputy Foreign Minister added, is part of China's “One Belt, One Road” initiative, as well as coincides with the European Union's Global Gateway initiative. The Deputy Minister also spoke about the work of European companies in the railroad industry in Kazakhstan.
Speaking about cooperation with the European Union, Kuantyrov said that Kazakhstan is ready to provide and provides most of the critical minerals that the EU needs. The main goal of Kazakhstan, as the deputy minister added, is not just the extraction of critical minerals, but also their deep processing on the territory of the country.
The deputy minister also reported on a $50 billion project to produce “green” hydrogen in the Mangistau region. “This is a very large project that has a huge export potential Europe, including Germany,” Kuantyrov said.
