The Evolution of the Kazakhstani Silk Road Section from a Transport into a Logistics Corridor and the Economic Sustainability of Regional Development in Central Asia

Central Asian countries attract investment in transport infrastructure to rebuild the Silk Road paths and enjoy economic benefits from the participation in international trade. The Kazakhstani government approached the Russian and Chinese governments intending to join the Western Europe–Western Chin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainability 2020-08, Vol.12 (15), p.6291
Main Authors: Taisarinova, Aislu, Loprencipe, Giuseppe, Junussova, Madina
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agronomy
Economic development
Economics
Foreign investment
Infrastructure
Integrated approach
International trade
Logistics
Regional development
Regional planning
Roads & highways
Sustainability
Sustainable development
Transportation corridors
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Summary:Central Asian countries attract investment in transport infrastructure to rebuild the Silk Road paths and enjoy economic benefits from the participation in international trade. The Kazakhstani government approached the Russian and Chinese governments intending to join the Western Europe–Western China (WE–WC) initiative to boost the country’s regional development. The paper aims to assess how the WE–WC transport corridor affected the economic potential of linking cities and regions starting from the quality of transport infrastructure and leading to their export potential. The study’s findings showed that the Kazakhstan section of the WE–WC corridor was at an early stage of transformation from a transport into an economic corridor. While the Russia-Uzbekistan section continues to serve mainly a transit function and operate at the level of transport infrastructure, the China-Kyrgyzstan section has started evolving from the level of multimode transport corridor to the level of logistics corridor. The economic sustainability of the WE–WC linking mining and agricultural regions of Kazakhstan still comes into question and depends on the government’s further region-specific policy actions.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su12156291