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Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Defense will receive all terrain vehicles (ATV) and night vision equipment from the United Kingdom, Tengrinews reports.
The Majilis (lower chamber) of the Parliament ratified the Agreement between the Governments of Kazakhstan and Great Britain on the procedure for ground transit of cargo from Afghanistan through the territory of Kazakhstan in connection with participation of the UK in the efforts to stabilize and reconstruct Afghanistan.
Kazakhstan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Yerlan Idrissov said that the agreement made in Astana in Aprils was a military and technical aid agreement between the two countries. “This means that Britain will provide Kazakhstan's military forces with military equipment worth $3.4 million. It refers to equipment in good condition provided to our country free of charge. In particular, our Ministry of Defense has requested all terrain vehicles and night vision equipment,” Idrissov said.
In return, Kazakhstan permitted the UK to transit cargo through its territory by rail and by sea. The rail transit will go through designated checkpoints at the Kazakhstan-Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan borders and to the Kazakhstan-Russia border on the other side. The sea transit will go via Aktau sea port.
“We realize that the Caspian Sea is a sensitive matter, so we clarified all the aspects of the cargo transit via Aktau during our negotiations, so as to maintain our position in terms of peacekeeping and security in the Caspian Sea region,” Idrissov said, adding that only save cargo not containing any actual armaments was going to be transported via the port of Aktau.
The UK will be responsible for all the expenses arising from the cargo transportation, but no British personnel will be accompanying the cargo.
Writing by Gyuzel Kamalova, editing by Tatyana Kuzmina
