MOSCOW, 24 February (BelTA) – A session of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council took place in Kazakhstan's capital on 24 February. Participants of the session passed a resolution to support the realization of a joint Eurasian Economic Union project for faster shipment of agricultural products in containers by rail and by multimodal means of transportation, representatives of the Eurasian Economic Commission told BelTA.
The Eurasian Agroexpress project is designed to increase mutual deliveries and export of agricultural products and food in addition to diversifying it.
Regular deliveries beyond borders of the Eurasian Economic Union will be organized to and from China and Uzbekistan initially, Member of the Board (Minister) for Trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission Andrei Slepnev said. Future destinations may include other Asian and European countries. Regular shipments will allow offering competitive rates in comparison with transportation by sea in addition to reducing the time needed to deliver goods (down to 10-14 days to China and 4-7 days to Uzbekistan). Apart from that, the entire necessary infrastructure for smooth logistics will be created.
Andrei Slepnev stated he was talking about deliveries of fats and oils, dairy and meat products, fruits, vegetables, and ready food products as well as other foods focusing on high-margin goods.
In the course of the project's realization two container trains per week will shuttle along the route Belarus-Russia-Kyrgyzstan-Kazakhstan-China, including a train with refrigerator cars for frozen foods. The monthly volume of shipments to China may get close to 10,000 tonnes.
The companies OOO Bremino Group (Belarus), AO KTZ Express (Kazakhstan), GP NK KTZh (Kyrgyzstan), AO RZD Logistics (Russia), and AO Slavtrans Servis (Russia) have confirmed they will participate in the project. The company ANO Eurasian Agrologistics has been set up to perform coordination functions.
