Central Asia pushes forward with improvements to Belt and Road Initiative
This year’s Hong Kong Maritime Week featured a focus on railway connections along the Belt and Road Initiative. Experts from China, Kazakhstan, and the OECD discussed the current situation as well as opportunities for further development to improve operations, including those bound for Małaszewicze in Poland.
During the Asian Logistics, Maritime and Aviation Conference, a panel titled “Unlocking Central Asia: The Next Trade and Logistics Frontier” explored the New Silk Road and the role of Central Asian countries in shaping its future. Opening the discussion, Grégory Lecomte from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) emphasized that Central Asia is “beginning to determine the future routes of trade between East and West.” According to him, railway development in the region has made a civilizational leap, and the rail corridor connecting China with Poland—and thus with Europe—remains in very good condition.
-Over the past 14 years, regional trade has quadrupled, and exports have doubled. Back then, there was no developed infrastructure. Today we see significant investments in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as private investments in transport and logistics. New intermodal terminals are emerging – said Grégory Lecomte, head of the OECD for Central Asia.
Timur Ivanov, CEO of PTC Shanghai, highlighted the impact of these investments, noting that within a decade it has been possible to establish a fast and stable rail service between Asia and Europe.
-The fastest trains to Europe and specifically to Małaszewicze in Poland, arrive within eight, sometimes twelve days. This truly strengthens reliability and ensures consistent service. Westbound traffic operates 24/7, year-round. With advanced digitalization of documentation, processes are now smoother and far more predictable – explained Ivanov.
According to the PTC director, the acceleration of transport handling has been made possible thanks to the digitalization of SMGS documentation in China, the automation of border crossings, and the development of transshipment hubs on the China–Kazakhstan border.
Previously, a border crossing could delay a train for several days. Today we stop for just a few hours. Digitalization has removed most of the paper-based bureaucracy – he added.
To further streamline traffic along the New Silk Road, panelists agreed that additional development of transshipment infrastructure in Central Asia is necessary. Dr. Ainur Amirbekova of the QazTrade Center pointed out that while physical infrastructure is expanding rapidly, a parallel revolution is taking place in digital systems. She noted that if transit time for trains is to remain short, trains cannot wait at borders for documents. According to Amirbekova, Central Asian countries aspire to build a fully digital Eurasian corridor that will allow railway operators to exchange documents in real time, without interruptions or unnecessary checks.
Participants also highlighted that the next major breakthrough for the New Silk Road will be the launch of the new China–Kyrgyzstan–Uzbekistan route, which is expected to shorten the overall journey by several hundred kilometers and relieve pressure on existing crossings. Concluding the discussion, Yeraly Autov, CEO of Shyngar Trans Logistics Company, suggested that Central Asian governments whose territories form part of the transit route should create a “mini-Schengen for logistics”—a unified clearance system for all countries in the region.