Leaders’ meeting raises hopes at Port of Lianyungang

Employees at Kazakhstan’s largest overseas investment project, which is in the Port of Lianyungang in East China’s Jiangsu Province, expressed optimism a week after cargo trains linked to the Belt and Road initiative were launched by leaders of the two countries on June 8.

During Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Kazakhstan last week, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Xi inspected via videolink the logistics center in Lianyungang and a dry port in Horgos, Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region bordering Kazakhstan.

Both cities are key hubs of the Europe- bound CHINA RAILWAY Express freight trains and the New Eur- asian Land Bridge.

Iyembergenov Dinmukhamed, vice general manager at Lianyungang China- Kazakhstan International Logistics Co, said that the volume of transit goods passing through Kazakhstan between China and Europe doubled from 2011 to 2016 to 200,000 20- foot equivalent units ( TEUs).

According to estimates by Kazakhstan Railways ( KTZ), the country’s state- owned railway operator, the volume of transit goods will further increase to 800,000 TEUs by 2020.

“We want to bank on that bigger trend and grow our business out of it,” Iyembergenov Dinmukhamed told the Global Times Thursday.

“As the representatives for Kazakhstan in the company, we would like to see our business get a bigger piece of the pie,” he said.

Lianyungang China- Kazakhstan International Logistics Co, which began operation in 2014, is a joint venture between Lianyungang Port Group and KTZ Express, the logistics subsidiary of KTZ.

KTZ Express owns a 49 percent stake, making the project the largest overseas investment for Kazakhstan.

China ranks among Kazakhstan’s top trading partners and investors, according to media reports.

Chinese investment in Kazakhstan has exceeded $ 42.8 billion, while bilateral trade in the first four months of 2017 surged by 45.6 percent, according to Xinhua.