The main routes for delivery of goods to Kazakhstan will be redirected because of the extension of Russian sanctions on goods from Turkey and Ukraine, the press service of the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs announced in a statement, the Interfax Ukraine news agency reports.

According to the statement, which was issued on Monday, the head of the presidium of the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs, Timur Kulibayev, heard a report from Askar Mamin, the president of NK Kazakhstan Temir Zholy and the chairman of the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs’ committee on logistics and transportation.

"Taking account of the current situation and in view of the extension of Russian sanctions to goods from Turkey and Ukraine, transportation of goods through the historically established routes – both railway and road – is now governed by new import procedures," Mamin is quoted as saying in the statement.

According to him, the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs is currently considering alternative routes through Georgia, Azerbaijan, and the Aktau port (rail and road), as well as through Turkey-Iran-Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan (road).

"As a result of the sanctions imposed by Russia in December 2015, most domestic carriers have been redirected toward the trans-Caspian route through the ports of Baku and Aktau," said Mamin.

In connection with this, the volume of ferry traffic has increased. "Thus, 569 vehicles passed through the port of Aktau in January this year alone. This is more than 10 times the volume of traffic in the previous year (868 vehicles were transported on the Baku-Aktau route in January-November 2015)," Mamin said.

Measures have been taken to simplify transport conditions. "In order to accelerate and simplify passage through the port of Aktau, a joint order of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of National Economy, the Ministry of Investment and Development, and the National Security Committee has approved a procedure, according to which inspections are to be performed based on the "single window" principle and no more than 2 minutes should be spent on inspection of documents per vehicle. In addition, the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs and the Aktau port are working to introduce a preliminary cargo information procedure in the near future. This work is being performed jointly with Turkey, the Ministry of Finance’s state revenue committee, and the ports of Aktau and Baku," Mamin said.