ASTANA – Kazakhstan has dispatched first trucks carrying exports goods to Pakistan via Afghanistan under a pilot project launched to start road trade between the two countries, using a new route.
Kazakhstan’s Vice Minister of Trade and Integration Kairat Torebayev shared the development in a press conference on Monday, reported Kazakh media.
He said Kazakhstan was holding negotiating with Pakistan’s National Logistics Cell (NLC) for safe trade between the regional countries.
The return distance between Pakistan and Kazakhstan is 4,000 kilometers, he said, adding that was not a a long distance in terms of regional connectivity and development.
As a bridge connecting Central Asia, India, and the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan allows Kazakhstan to get access to Pakistan’s seaports in Karachi and Gwadar, then to India, the Middle East, and Africa.
He said Kazakhstan will host the first Kazakh-Afghan business forum on August 3 in Astana in order to promote bilateral economic ties