TRANSPORT WEEK WAS HELD IN ALMATY ON OCTOBER 13-15

On October 15, 2021, the 24^th Kazakhstan International Transport and Logistics Exhibition – TransLogistica Kazakhstan 2021 – completed its work in Almaty. The event was attended by 88 companies from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, and Estonia. During the three days, the exhibition was visited by 1,952 specialists.

At the opening ceremony of TransLogistica Kazakhstan 2021, Vice-Minister of industry and infrastructure development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Berik Kamaliyev, conveyed to the organizers the greetings of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Askar Mamin:

"Kazakhstan, being in the center of important transport lines of the Eurasian continent, is a transit bridge and a reliable partner between Asia and Europe, which is proved by the international composition of the exhibition and conference participants.

I am confident that TransLogistica Kazakhstan 2021 will contribute to the development of the national transit transport potential and further strengthen long-term and mutually beneficial partnerships," states the greeting.

The importance of the event for the further development of international relations is proven both by the geography of the participating countries and the list of distinguished guests, including representatives of the Embassies and Consulates of Azerbaijan, Iran, Latvia, Lithuania, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Estonia and Russia.

The experts discussed the current status of the transport industry and other topical issues at the III International Conference "Transport and Logistics Market". During the two days of the Conference the participants discussed the perspectives of development and presented strategic information for the transport sector.

The participants of the strategic session devoted to the issues of transport sector reloading under conditions of pandemic included Nurlan Sauranbayev, Chairman of the Board of “NC KTZh” JSC, Uldis Reimanis, Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of communications of the Republic of Latvia, Sergey Dubina, Deputy Minister of transport and communications of the Republic of Belarus, Vladislav Kondratovich, Head of air and road traffic policy group of the Ministry of communications of Lithua and etc.

In his speech Berik Kamaliyev, noted that Kazakhstan is making great efforts to develop the transport sector and transit potential of transport corridors.

- Over the past 15 years the transport industry was invested with about $35 billion. 2.5 thousand kilometers of new railroads were built, and more than 13 thousand kilometers of highways were reconstructed. Today the total length of national, regional and district roads is about 100 thousand kilometers. The total length of railroads is 21 thousand kilometers. The "Western Gate" of Kazakhstan is represented by the seaports of Aktau and Kuryk; the "Eastern Gate" is the dry port in the "Khorgos" special economic zone; there are 20 airports in the civil aviation sphere of Kazakhstan today. Today, in view of the developed infrastructure, 11 international transit corridors pass through the territory of Kazakhstan, of which 5 railroad and 6 automobile corridors, - said Berik Kamaliyev.

The conference also touched upon the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the international logistics services market. Uldis Reimanis, Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of communications of the Republic of Latvia, believes that the pandemic revealed vulnerability of the transport and logistics industry: traditional supply chains were disrupted, logistics costs and delivery times increased significantly. At the same time, consumer preferences have also changed, showing a rapid demand for online sales. In the next section of panel discussions, the speakers heatedly discussed the issues of containerization. According to Viktor Ivanov, Deputy General Director of commerce and development of Istkomtrans LLP, the key factor restraining container transportation in the Republic of Kazakhstan is the peculiarities of state regulation. Also, during the day there were sessions on implementation of information and digital technologies in the transport industry and the potential for development of logistics in the modern world.

On the second day of the exhibition Beibut Atamkulov, Minister of industry and infrastructural development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, paid a working visit. Bilateral meetings of the Minister with representatives of transport industry of Belarus, Latvia and Lithuania took place on the platform of the event; in addition to discussion of topical issues of the industry, topics of long-term partnership and cooperation between our countries were touched upon.

A busy program of the second day included sessions on development of railway, sea and air transportation, discussion of post-pandemic realities in the aviation industry and road transportation.

Commenting on the situation in the aviation industry, Chairman of the Civil Aviation Committee Talgat Lastayev noted:

"From August 2 to August 11 of this year, there was an independent audit of the industry by ICAO auditors as part of the Coordinated Validation Mission. According to preliminary data, Kazakhstan increased the level of flight safety to 84%, which is 15% higher than the global average. "

Experts noted an increase in compliance with ICAO standards on almost all indicators. First of all, in "organizational structure" and "legislation". In terms of flight safety, we have reached the level of such prosperous countries as the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, the Czech Republic (87%), Latvia (86%), Denmark (85%), Iceland and Poland (84%).

Since its debut in 1996, TransLogistica Kazakhstan has become an important Central Asian event for professionals in the transport, logistics, engineering and related industries. In 2021, after a pandemic, the exhibition again proved to be an effective dialogue platform, a place for meetings and live communication to develop business and build high-quality partnerships.

The exhibition is organized by Kazakhstan exhibition companies Atakent-Expo and Iteca. The conference is organised jointly by Quality Business Forum, Atakent-Expo, Iteca and E-Forum with the support of the Ministry of industry and infrastructure development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, NC Kazakhstan Temir Zholy JSC, Kazakhstan Association of Carriers and Wagon Operators, Association of National Forwarders, KAZLOGISTICS Union of Kazakhstan Transport Workers, "Silk Road" International Institute of Logistics and Business.