Kazakhstan's transport and logistics potential within Belt and Road Initiative discussed in Singapore
In his speech, Ambassador Suleimen stressed that the initiative to create the land-based BRI - "Silk Road Economic Belt" was announced by Chinese leader Xi Jinping in September 2013 during his visit to Astana, which clearly signaled that Kazakhstan had an important role to play in the implementation of this mega-project, the official website of the Kazakh MFA reads.
He also pointed out that Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev's "Nurly Zhol" infrastructure programme is very similar to BRI as it also places emphasis on the development of transport and logistics infrastructure in Kazakhstan. Its synergy with BRI now has the potential to boost Kazakhstan's economic and infrastructural development.
"Kazakhstan has already created infrastructural conditions which are necessary to firmly link the trade routes of Asia and Europe through Central Asia. Using these advantages, Kazakhstan is able to liaise between the other Central Asian countries and ASEAN region," - noted Ambassador Suleimen.
Ambassador Suleimen also talked about President Nazarbayev's idea to build a ship canal to link the Caspian Sea with the Black Sea, which can open an access for Kazakhstan and Central Asian countries to the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, which was recently announced during the Eurasian Economic Union member states Summit held in Sochi.
The lecture was moderated by Ambassador Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, the Principal research fellow at ISAS, former Foreign Minister of Bangladesh and attended by the representatives of the Singapore Foreign Ministry, heads of diplomatic missions accredited in Singapore, representatives of business, academicians, media and the ISAS PhD students.
