Russia, China to consider possible truck transportation routes via

BARNAUL, July 20 (Itar-Tass) -- Delegations from the Russian Ministry
of Transport and China's Xinjang Uygur province will arrive here on
Tuesday to discuss possibilities for organizing truck transportation
routes via Kazakhstan, a source in the Altai Territory told Itar-Tass.
Russia and China have no agreement on transport exchange. Moreover,
Chinese motor vehicles may not cross Kazakhstan's border, unlike Russian
motor transport. As a result trade turnover between Russia's Altai
Territory and China's Xinjang Uygur province proceeds in the following
manner: motor vehicles from Altai move via Kazakhstan to its border with
China, where Chinese shippers load Russian vehicles with their goods.
"The scheme entails extra expenditure and does not satisfy the Russian
Association of International Trucking Companies. Russian companies want to
be allowed to Urumchi for loading. The Chinese side is interested in
shipping their goods to the Russian border via Kazakhstan," said Alexander
Zhilin, head of international and interregional ties administration of the
Altai Territory.
The Russian and Chinese delegation will visit the border area to
inspect a customs point in the settlement of Veseloyarsk in the Altai
Territory on the route linking Russia and China.
-0-ras