BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 25. Reaching and even exceeding the indicator of 4 million tons of cargo transportation along the Middle Corridor in 2024 is realistic, Vice Minister of Transport of Kazakhstan, Satzhan Ablaliyev exclusively told Trend.

"Taking into account high rates of China's cargo transit taken since the beginning of 2024 and the planned growth of Kazakhstan's cargo transportation, it is possible this year quite easily to fulfill the task set in connection with the Middle Corridor - to provide it with cargoes in the amount of 4.2 million tons," Ablaliyev stressed.

He noted that there is already an agreement with China on transportation along the Middle Corridor of 10 container trains with 20-foot containers per month.

"In March, the delegation of the Ministry of Transport of Kazakhstan will go to Western China to clarify transit plans. I think there will be an intensification of transportation. So we can easily exceed the targeted four million tons along the Middle Corridor in 2024," the Kazakh vice minister said.

He said the Middle Corridor's 10 million tons of cargo per year (peak) load is achievable in the next few years.

In 2023, 2.75 million tons of cargo passed through this route.

To note, the Middle corridor links the container rail freight networks of China and the European Union countries through Central Asia, the South Caucasus, Türkiye, and Eastern Europe.

A multilateral multimodal transportation infrastructure links ferry terminals on the Caspian and Black Seas with the railway systems of China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Türkiye, Ukraine, and Poland.

The Middle corridor facilitates increased cargo traffic from China to Türkiye, as well as to Europe and vice versa.