Kazakhstan Customs Border Throughput Capacity To Increase By Eight Times
Kazakh – EAEU goods transits through to China, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to have significant Increases
The customs border capacity of checkpoints within the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) are set to increase eightfold, according to Yeldos Saudabayev, the director of the control department of the State Revenue Committee (SRC) of the Ministry of Finance of Kazakhstan. The EAEU includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. Kazakhstan is especially interested in its increasing efficiency and volume on its borders with China, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
He noted that one of the priority goals of the SRC is to solve the infrastructure problems of checkpoints located on the customs border of the EAEU. Today there are ten checkpoints: five highway checkpoints on the border with China, at Dostyk-avtomobilny, Kalzhat, Maikapchagai and Bakhty; and a rail checkpoint on the border at Dostyk.
There is currently one road border checkpoint with Turkmenistan at Temir-baba, and another four highway checkpoints on the border with Uzbekistan, being Kaplanbek, Kazugurt, Atameken and Tazhen.
Saudabayev said that “Since last year, additional construction and installation work has begun at all ten checkpoints. In agreement with the Uzbek side, the Kaplanbek and Zangiota road checkpoints are completely closed at present for redevelopment and expansion. Reconstruction of the remaining checkpoints will be carried out without them closing, but there will be a inevitable restriction on the movement of vehicles and individuals. It is planned to complete the reconstruction of all checkpoints by the end of 2024.
As a result of these works, there will be an increase in throughput up to eight times (from 1,000 to 8,400 vehicles per day), and a reduction in time (from 2 hours to 25 minutes). The complete process will be digitized.”
Saudabayev added that as a result of the work done to increase trade turnover and improve customs administration for the first half of 2023, the volume of customs payments and taxes to the state budget of Kazakhstan, after distribution among the EAEU countries reached 1.9 billion tenge (US$4.26 billion) , which is 21% more than in the same period last year. Kazakh VAT on imports also increased by 71% compared to the same period last year.
Saudabayev also commented about the issuance of foreign import and transit permits at Kazakh checkpoints from China, stating that “The issuance of foreign forms of permits from China was automated based on the CargoAlem electronic queue system at the border with China, which made it possible to eliminate the human factor and obtain foreign forms of permits directly at checkpoints.
This project started in the pilot mode until March 2024 and only in relation to transportation to China. A foreign permit form is a document that allows carriers to transport goods through the territories of foreign states. Previously, companies had to travel and apply directly to the authorised body to obtain such forms, but now it will be possible to obtain permission directly when crossing the border. This allows carriers significant savings in time and money.”
The issuance of foreign forms of permits, according to him, today is carried out at the Monetary Conditions Index (MCI) at checkpoints and eliminates corruption. “Earlier there was the illegal resale of these permits at inflated prices, including up to US$2,000. That is now eliminated, and since the launch of the pilot project on April 26 this year, more than 21,000 foreign permit forms have been issued.”
Source: Kapital
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