ALMATY. April 10 (Interfax-AVN) - NATO Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia Robert Simmons plans to discuss the possibility of nonmilitary transit via Kazakhstan for the international force in Afghanistan during his visit to Kazakhstan.
At a Wednesday press conference he said that one of the main purposes of his visit to Astana is to discuss surface transit across Kazakhstan of nonmilitary cargos to Afghanistan.
Simmons said that NATO plans to transport such cargos across Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan using the same railway that the Soviet Union had used. Besides, this would be much cheaper than air transit, he said.
He said the cargos would be transported on a commercial basis. He said there is an understanding with Russia on the issue and the alliance needs to discuss the matter with the governments of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.