The Role of Kazakhstan in the New Geography of Production and Trade between the Asian and European Markets

Abstract

For over a decade, the global economic order has been undergoing major macroeconomic and geographic changes. International relations evolve with the emergence of countries that face new economic superpowers like China. Federated around this new economic Sino-pole, Asian countries are increasingly attractive to major international investors in particular due to the reduced labor costs and a consumer market of several hundred million people. These events are accompanied by new geography of the value chain. Indeed, a new transcontinental organization of production of goods generates new trade routes using mainly sea transport to link production areas to consumer markets. However, despite its undisputed dominance, maritime transport is not the only mode of transcontinental freight. Rail transport starts to attract international freight companies due to its speed. Now, as part of the formation of a rail corridor linking East Asia to Western Europe, Central Asia countries, particularly Kazakhstan, would be located between two major economic regions of the world. In this case, the development of freight traffic could lead to the development of the logistic function and thus accelerate the process of economic development.