One Belt, One Road: Kazakhstan Expands Its Transit Potential for Europe

Located on the Eurasian continent, Kazakhstan is not only an important stronghold of the economic belt of the Silk Road, but also an important member of the Eurasian Economic Union. China and Kazakhstan are inextricably linked. Since they established relations of comprehensive strategic partnership, business cooperation in all areas has achieved fruitful results. In short, Kazakhstan is becoming a model for the construction of the ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative.

The Silk Road is a common historical heritage of China, Kazakhstan and all countries along its path. Four years ago, Chairman of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping, in Kazakhstan for the first time, announced to the world the grandiose concept of joint construction of the ‘One Belt, One Road.’ Kazakhstan actively responded to this and is fast becoming a key link in one of the most ambitious initiatives in the world.

Last Wednesday, the port of Amsterdam hosted a solemn ceremony of sending the first-ever freight train from the Netherlands to China. The freight train, owned by Dutch Transport and Nunner Logistics, will travel 11,000 kilometers in 16 days and deliver cargo to the city of Yiwu in eastern China.

“Almost 3,000 kilometers of that journey will see the train traveling through the territory of Kazakhstan,” Kazakhstan's Ambassador to the Netherlands, Magzhan Ilyassov, said.

The train, with 41 freight containers, will deliver equipment, mineral fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, medical products, optical devices and technical equipment to China.

Three trains will be sent from Amsterdam to Yiwu each week, and by 2020, the total number of trains sent annually from the EU to the PRC is expected to reach 5,000.

By Dimitri Dolaberidze