Kazakhstani president to visit Turkmenistan on December 2

Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev will visit Turkmenistan on December 2 to meet with the country’s authorities and attend the opening of the Uzen-Bereket-Gorgan railway line on December 3, Trend reports.

The railway will connect Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran. Realization of the project started in 2007. Its capacity will be increased from 3 to 5 million tons a year and doubled later. The Asian Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank assisted in realization of the project.

Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan are cooperating in gas projects. CNPC (China) has been buying their gas since 2009, after the launch of two pipelines from Turkmenistan through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. The third line has the same route and was launched in May 2013.

Ashkhabad and Astana want to boost trade and economic contacts.