Kazakhstan Moves Forward with Caspian Hub Initiative to Boost Trade with Littoral States

Kazakhstan is making significant strides toward developing the Caspian hub, a strategic project aimed at enhancing trade with Caspian littoral nations-Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Iran, and Russia, collectively home to over 100 million people.

This announcement was made by Kazakhstan"s Minister of Trade and Integration, Arman Shakkaliev, during a government meeting on Tuesday, The Caspian Post reports.

The Caspian hub will primarily focus on facilitating container storage and transloading from railway wagons to sea containers, while also offering advanced processing services. Shakkaliev emphasized that the development of such infrastructure would boost trade relations with neighboring countries, increase non-resource exports by 30%, and improve logistics for businesses.

Vice Minister of Transport, Maksat Kaliakparov, added that modernization efforts are already underway at Kazakhstan"s Aktau and Kuryk seaports as part of the project. The construction of a container hub at Aktau Port has commenced and is expected to be completed by the end of 2025, which will elevate the port"s throughput capacity to 250,000 TEUs annually. Earlier this year, a new grain terminal with a capacity of 1 million tons per year was launched at Kuryk Port.