Kazakhstan replied to Kyrgyzstan’s complaint to the World Trade Organization (WTO) regarding the difficulty of transportation of goods through the joint border.
The Ministry of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan reported that since the beginning of 2019, control of the movement of dual-use and military goods has been carried out at 37 automobile checkpoints on the state border with EAEU member states. At the same time, issues of border and export control are not regulated by the EAEU Treaty, since they do not relate to economic integration.
According to the analysis of shipping documents when moving from Kyrgyzstan to Kazakhstan and Russia, it was found that the prices of transported goods were manifoldly underestimated, in particular for goods of Chinese origin — 10-70 times.
In 2019, more than 2,600 freight vehicles have moved from the Kyrgyz side with shipping documents drawn up to fictitious residents of Kazakhstan. Goods declared in documents as transit to the Russian Federation have been imported into Kazakhstan by more than 4,800 trucks. These goods settled in Kazakhstan without payment of VAT.
In November-December alone, inaccurate information in shipping documents of 191 out of 194 (98 percent) randomly inspected vehicles moving from Kyrgyzstan was detected.
At the same time, the Kyrgyz side did not make any progress in the procedure for introduction of navigation seals, the neighboring republic notes.
According to the Republic of Kazakhstan, the congestion of vehicles on the Kazakh-Kyrgyz border is associated with limited capacity of automobile checkpoints in the fruit and vegetable season or after holidays in case of one-time arrival of freight vehicles.
