The heads of the railways of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan invite the government of Ukraine to join the development of the Trans-Caspian international transport corridor and possibly to create a joint venture, according to the Ukrainian Cabinet`s press service.
Ukraine in turn is ready to take part in the creation of new transport corridors and join existing routes in the Trans-Caspian region, including those in south-west direction from Central Asia through Georgia and Azerbaijan towards Europe, it said citing Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman who met with the heads of these railways.>
”We welcome various forms of interaction. And if we can build a single transport corridor and a joint venture – such approaches are good. This cooperate will yield good results for our states. We`re looking forward to your proposal,” Groysman said.
The proposed joint venture would work as a ”one-stop shop” for processing of goods shipped along this route.
The heads of the railways stressed this could become a significant competitive advantage of the countries in the use of transit opportunities, as commodity flows are estimated at ”billions of dollars.”
According to Groysman, cooperation in the transport sector with GUAM member countries (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova) and Ukraine`s partners in Central Asia is prioritized both by the Ukrainian government and the governments of the partner countries.
As UNIAN reported, the GUAM member states on March 27 signed a protocol enclosed to a free trade agreement to create a center for coordination of actions of the parties within under the agreement. They also signed a protocol to recognize some customs procedures for goods and means of transportation relocated across the state border of the GUAM countries.
Earlier, Ukraine and Latvia agreed on the joint development of trade routes along the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor.
Georgia in turn considers it promising to create a logistic transit corridor and a free trade zone with Ukraine.
See also: Prime Minister of Ukraine expects to launch free trade between GUAM members in 2017
