Freight traffic on western route of North-South ITC to reach 15 million tonnes per year by 2030 – Mikhail Mishustin

Nominal value of non-raw material non-energy exports in 8M’22 has increased by 7% YoY

To promote exports to Iran, the Middle East and South Asia, the work to expand the western route of the International North-South Transport Corridor is underway, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said at the plenary session of the Made in Russia 2022 International Export Forum. The transcript of his speech is available on the official website of RF Government.

“We plan to increase the freight traffic there to 15 million tonnes per year by 2030 with our partners in the Caspian region,” said the Prime Minister adding that turther plans include organising end-to-end logistics from northwestern Russia, the Urals, and Russia’s central regions to the ports of the Persian Gulf and further around the world.

Mikhail Mishustin reminded that the Government had identified three key areas for infrastructure development – the Sea of Azov-Black Sea, as well as the Eastern and Caspian regions which are considered as the foundation for expanding trade and economic ties. “ Together with businesses and regional authorities, we are now testing solutions that will speed up the handling of goods many times over. In the eastward direction, shipments of non-primary goods to the Asia-Pacific countries are growing rapidly,” he said.

According to Mikhail Mishustin, one of the most important goals at this stage is to reformat logistics. “Before unfriendly countries imposed restrictions on Russia, all transport services for Russian goods heading abroad were provided by eight major international companies. These companies have left the Russian market, but goods are being exported anyway,” said the Prime Minister. “Inevitably, the geography of deliveries to foreign countries is changing. The considerable shrinking of trade with the United States, the UK, Japan, and a number of other countries… is proceeding in parallel with the growth of trade with other, friendly partners. For example, industrial exports to BRICS countries have expanded substantially. There is great dynamism in trade with Türkiye, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates,” he added.

When speaking about the types of export cargo, Mikhail Mishustin told about the rise of rolled metal supplies to the Asia Pacific Region and the CIS countries; steady demand for sawn timber, paper pulp, and packing in the Asia Pacific Region and for fertilisers in Latin America; steady growth of fat and oil sales, particularly to the Middle East. “We continue exporting grain to Egypt, Türkiye, the Gulf area, as well as to African and Asian states. This year, meat supplies to Saudi Arabia, as well as to CIS and North African countries have almost doubled,” said Mikhail Mishustin adding that “in some sectors, sanctions have failed to obstruct the transition to higher value-added exports. This year, for example, we have increased processed fish deliveries to Asia and even Europe.”

According to the Prime Minister, nominal value of non-raw material non-energy exports in the first eight months of this year has increased by 7 percent year on year and reached $125 billion.

Mikhail Mishustin also emphasized the importance of transition to payments in national currencies. “In this connection, we are expediting the readjustment of the reciprocal payments mechanism used by us and our partners, including through acceding to alternative payments systems and creating sophisticated hi-tech forms of payment,” he said.