On 29 September Radio “Ozodi”, with reference to its sources reported that Tajikistan’s aluminum company (TALCO) has been unable to transport cargo through the territory of Turkmenistan for nearly a month.
The Chairperson of the Intergovernmental Council of the CIS Railroad Workers Buri Karimov told Radio that that the situation with regard to the trucks congregated at the Turkmen border was under discussion a few days ago.
Representatives of Tajikistan and Turkey raised this issue.Shortly afterwards the authorities of Turkmenistan granted a permit for Turkish trucks to cross the border but the trucks owned by Tajikistan’s forwarding companies are still being held at border checkpoints.
For the time being TALCO executives are trying to locate alternative routes to be able to export its products and import the required raw materials, according to the source.
TALCO is now negotiating the shipment of bauxite (aluminum ore) from Azerbaijan and Tajikistan through one of Kazakhstan’s ports on the Caspian Sea.It is also mentioned that TALCO purchases petrol coke from Turkmenistan.
Since late August, semi trucks from Iran and Turkey have been unable to cross the Turkmen border to transport cargo to Tajikistan.
Tajikistan’s Ministry of Transportation had recommended that truck drivers use alternative routes: drive to Baku to take a ferry bound to Kazakhstan’s port of Aktau on the Caspian Sea and head to Tajikistan through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Radio “Ozodi” reported that cargo trucks en route to Tajikistan were stopped at the Turkmen border for security reasons.
This wording was quoted in the official letter forwarded by Turkmenistan to Tajikistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.