Lithuania has asked Kazakhstan to reduce the duration of its customs procedures, as a result of which container trains traveling from China to Lithuania idle for long periods on the border, the RZD Partner publication reports.

At a meeting of the intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation between Lithuania and Kazakhstan in Astana, Lithuania asked Kazakhstan to introduce simplified customs procedures.

Lithuania’s Minister of Economy Evaldas Gustas also invited Kazakhstan to join the Viking container train project. "We are interested in significantly broadening the geography of this project and creating a transport corridor from Scandinavian countries via Ukraine, Georgia, and Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan and China," Gustas said.

The trade turnover between Lithuania and China was EUR 683 million in 2015, of which exports amounted to EUR 387 million and imports EUR 296 million.