One Belt, One Road initiative gave rise to Great Silk Road renaissance - President Tokayev

“It will be no exaggeration to say that Belt and Road gave rise to the renaissance of the Great Silk Road. Therefore, the Chinese initiative is rightly called a megaproject of the XXI century,” said Tokayev.

The Head of State briefed about the achievements of Kazakhstan.

"Located in the heart of Eurasia, connecting North and South, West and East, Kazakhstan plays a special role in implementation of this initiative," he said.

According to him, being a large land-locked state and sharing a common long border with China, Kazakhstan takes serious efforts to become a world-level transport-logistics hub.

“About 85 percent of the entire land transit traffic from China to Europe falls on Kazakhstan. Focusing on development of the transit and transport industry, over the past 15 years we have allocated over $35 billion for these purposes. Such large infrastructure projects as the Kazakh-Chinese logistics center in Lianyungang, Khorgos Dry Port, Western Europe-Western China transit highway, and the railway corridor from China to Iran have been launched,” he added.

The Kazakh President shared the plans on laying 1,300 kilometers of new railroad lines within three years, opening the third checkpoint on the border with China, and construction of Bakhty and Kalzhat dry ports. These are the real examples of synthesis of Kazakhstan’s major economic projects with the global Chinese initiative.