THE eastern Chinese port city of Lianyungang has signed an agreement with Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, the national railway company, on cooperating in transshipping service for cargo flowing between the two countries, Xinhua reports.

According to the agreement, Lianyungang Port Group and Kazakhstan Temir Zholy will set up a joint venture to build and operate a container logistics facility, making Lianyungang the distribution hub for transshipments between China and Kazakhstan.

The two sides will make better use of Lianyungang's favourable geographical location and turn the city into a gateway for trade to and from Kazakhstan with Japan, Korean or South East Asian countries.

Lianyungang is the eastern start of the New Eurasian Land Bridge. It launched a number of container railway services to Central Asia including one to Kazakh city Almaty. Since the Lianyungang-Almaty railway service started in 2011, the line has moved 106,000 TEU. Exports from Kazakhstan are mainly iron alloy and electrolytic copper. Every year, there are about 600,000 tonnes of such goods exported to Japan, Korea, south east Asia and Australia.