Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- RZD Logistics in partnership with JSC "Russian Export Center" (REC) implemented a test shipment from Tambov to Tashkent of frozen poultry meat produced by GAP "Resource" - one of the largest Russian exporters of agricultural products within the framework of the project Agroexpress. The project was implemented with the support and active participation of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia and the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan.

The first consignment of cargo in autonomous refrigerated containers as part of a container train will proceed along the Tsna (South-Eastern Railway) - Sergeli (Uzbekistan) route and will transit through the territories of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

This is the first pilot export transportation of agro-industrial complex goods, implemented within the framework of a trilateral agreement on cooperation in the development of the Russia-Uzbekistan logistics corridor through the launch of Agroexpress trains, with the participation of REC, railways of Russia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, partner logistics companies, as well as customs and phytosanitary services of the countries participating in the corridor. During the test dispatch, all technological and control questions will be worked out and the remaining barriers will be removed.

A special tariff rate has been agreed on the route, and in the future, deliveries will be carried out by regular full-set trains according to the schedule.

“We are actively building up trade and economic cooperation with Uzbekistan - one of the priority partners in the CIS. Mutual trade increased significantly even last year, despite the pandemic, and continues to grow - in January-September by 6.5% over the same period last year. We hope that Agroexpress will become one of the flagships of our cooperation with Uzbekistan. Other countries in the region are already showing interest in it. We set ourselves the task of increasing the volume of deliveries by rail to 1 million tons of products by 2030,” said Dmitry Volvach, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.

“This transportation will open a new route for Russian exports and form promising logistics services for the transportation of agricultural goods to the countries of Central Asia. This, in turn, will contribute to increasing the volume of trade and the development of national projects for the export of domestic products. A lot of work has been done to implement the project, and its relevance for the market is confirmed by a significant increase in trade turnover between Russia and Uzbekistan. Our company plans to improve the organization of logistics for agro-industrial cargo and develop new complex business solutions that will create the best conditions for the customers of this service,” said Dmitry Murev, Director General of Russian Railways Logistics.

“Russian exporters will receive another uninterrupted supply channel and accelerated passage of goods across the border thanks to the coordinated actions of the regulatory authorities of the two countries. This is already the sixth route of the Agroexpress project, which operates on the principle of a “green corridor” and reduces the delivery time for agricultural products. Now regular Agroexpress trains deliver agricultural products of Russian exporters from Moscow and Russian regions to the largest cities in China, as well as from the capital to Vladivostok and further to the ports of China, Japan and South Korea. The new route will increase the trade turnover between the two countries,” said REC Director General Veronika Nikishina.

Earlier Russia and Uzbekistan agreed on the mechanics of launching a route for the transportation of agricultural goods for export in accelerated refrigerated container trains. The Roadmap for the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the development of logistics corridors "Russia - Uzbekistan" was signed following a meeting between Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexei Overchuk and Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan - trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan by Sardor Umurzakov.