The Eurasian Intergovernmental Council has adopted an order to support the implementation of a joint Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) project for accelerated railway and multimodal transportation Eurasian Agroexpress. The Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) announced following a meeting in narrow format.
The project is aimed at increasing the volume of mutual deliveries and exports of agricultural products and food, as well as its diversification.
At the first stage, regular shipments outside the EAEU will be organized along two routes — to China and Uzbekistan, as well as back. In the future, sales routes may be extended to other countries in the Asian and European regions.
Andrei Slepnev, the Minister for Trade of EEC
«Regularity of shipments will make it possible to form rates that are competitive in terms of sea freight, and also to reduce the delivery time (up to 10-14 days to China and 4-7 days to Uzbekistan). In addition, creation of all necessary infrastructure — well-functioning logistics supply chain — is envisaged,» said Andrei Slepnev, Minister for Trade of the EEC.
The minister explained that this is about the supply of oil and fat, dairy, meat, fruits and vegetables and finished food products, as well as other food products with an emphasis on marginal goods.
The joint project envisages the possibility of launching two full container trains a week along Belarus — Russia — Kyrgyzstan — Kazakhstan — China route, including trains with refrigerated containers for frozen products. Thus, the monthly volume of freight traffic in the direction of China can reach about 10,000 tons.
Bremino Group LLC (Belarus), KTZ Express JSC (Kazakhstan), KTZ (Kyrgyzstan), RZD Logistics JSC (Russian Federation) and Slavtrans-Service JSC (Russia) have confirmed their participation in the joint project. Eurasian Agro Logistics ANO has been established to act as a coordinator.
In 2019, Agroexpress project, which involves regular container transportation of agricultural products by rail to China, was launched in Russia. The project is also being implemented in Russia — Uzbekistan direction from 2021.
