“Kazakhstan conducts operations.” Minister of Finance comments on traffic jams at the border with Kyrgyzstan

Minister of Finance Yerulan Zhamaubayev said that traffic jams at the border with Kyrgyzstan often occur because of operations by Kazakhstani law enforcement agencies to fight smugglers. He expressed the hope that the problem will disappear shortly and Kazakhstan will become a transit hub for all of Central Asia.

What happened? MP Maksat Tolykbayev asked the minister why there were so many traffic jams at the border between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

«In the vast majority of cases when we have 500 to 600 vehicles in a traffic jam, the cause of this are operations by Kazakhstani law enforcement agencies to stop the smuggling of goods, for example. This is why we have such traffic jams,» the minister explained.

He also said that in 2021, Kazakhstan upgraded the customs checkpoint in the settlement of Korday. Next year, the country’s government will complete similar work at customs points in the villages of Sortobe and Aukatty. An additional three to four customs points will be upgraded by 2025. Once this happens, there will not be any more traffic jams, Zhamaubayev highlighted.

Even now, Kazakhstan is doing a lot to improve traffic flow. For instance, the government is working on a project involving an online queue for cargo vehicles, the minister said.

Zhamaubayev is confident that once the modernization of customs checkpoints is done, the transit capacity of the entire country will increase dramatically and turn Kazakhstan into a transit hub for Central Asia.

The context. On November 20-21, 2023, Kursiv reported a traffic jam of 500 to 600 vehicles at the border between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. At the time, the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan said that the jam was caused by a «seasonal increase in cargo traffic» due to soaring demand for food products and transit of goods through Kazakhstan more generally. The border service of Kyrgyzstan also said that there were no restrictions and all border posts worked as usual.

In 2020, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan argued over an eight-kilometer-long traffic jam along the border. Kyrgyzstan accused Kazakhstan of enhanced customs inspections that made drivers wait three to four days in the queue. The Kyrgyz government said that Astana violated the Eurasian Economic Union’s agreement. In turn, Kazakhstan accused Bishkek of being deaf to any proposals aimed at fighting the smuggling of goods from China to EEU member states. The situation was quite intense and was solved after the intervention of the prime ministers of both countries. They agreed to open all border crossing points and let all vehicles go through the border.

There are seven automotive and one railroad border crossing between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in the Jambyl and Almaty regions of Kazakhstan and Chui and Issyk-Kul region of Kyrgyzstan.