DUSHANBE, May 14, 2015, Asia-Plus — China’s news agency Xinhua reports that Xinjiang”s Karasu Customs, China”s only land port open to Tajikistan, officially opened on May 8 after ten years of preparation.
The port, located at an altitude of 4,100 meters in northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, officially began its trial operation in May 2004. Due to heavy snow in the winter, which blocks roads and mountain passes, it can only operate from April 20 to the end of November.
The oxygen level is less than 60 percent of that of the plains and its terrestrial radiation is as high as 500 millisieverts, five times the safe level.
Since opening, bilateral freight volume through the port reportedly rocketed from 833 tons in 2004 to 389,600 tons in 2014, with trade volume increasing from 1.68 million U.S. dollars to 1.99 billion in the same period.
Karasu Customs has cleared a total of 1.4 million tons of goods worth 7.67 billion U.S. dollars over the past decade.
Last year, 78 percent of trade between China and Tajikistan was from Xinjiang, mainly conducted through Karasu Customs and Tajikistan”s Kulma port on the other side of the border.
Customs commissioner Fei Lixin said Karasu Customs was a vital channel for trade, especially for Tajikistan, a landlocked country with a soured relationship with its neighbor Kyrgyzstan.
In addition to Karasu and the city”s international airport, Kashgar boasts three other national ports, namely Khunjerab that links Xinjiang with Pakistan; and Turgart and Irkeshtam that border Kyrgyzstan.
