relativiteit

the Kazakh

Het verbaast me, zoveel etnische groeperingen, in één land samen te zien leven. Alsof Russisch, Mongools, Chinees en Turks bloed in willekeurige combinaties is vermengd, de Kazakh als uniek resultaat. Spleetogen, doorleefde gezichten van baboesjka, zeer blanke ongehavende Chinese meisjes gezichtjes, norse Russische dodende blikken, en een lange rode lijs uit Nederland.

Geïnspireerd op de cocktail van etniciteit...

That was a quicky...

On Wednesday the first and Thursday the second of October, some interviews were planned with important stakeholders in de field of road transport in this region. The deputy secretary general, Alexander Denissenko from KazATO, the union of international road carriers in Kazakhstan, was eager for a warm welcome at his office. In spite of the language barrier (an interpreter was necessary to make communication possible), the fruitful conversation gave lots of interesting information. For example Mr. Denissenko made clear that the North corridor using the Asian Highway 7 and 6 alongside Almaty, Astana, Chelyabinsk, Moscow, Minsk, reaching the gateway into the European Union at the Poland border, seemed the most viable to him. He stated that Central routes using ferries crossing the Caspian and Black sea, or South routes using Turkmenistan and Iran kept more risks and uncertainties.

A meeting with Elena Pissanaya of NII TK, a Kazakh research institute, gave me some detailed information on current import and export figures of Kazakhstan. She also had some interesting thoughts on the development of China – Kazakh trade in the future.

A meeting with Mr. Segal the president of KFFA, Kazakhstan Freight Forwarders Association on Thursday was less clear. Apparently the president was not totally informed about the reasons of my presence, so after he provided me with some copies and a messy story about his vision on overland road transport form Europe to Asia, I was quickly forced outside again. Luckily I had bought tickets for tonight’s opera in the Abay national theatre, where I could wipe out my tears…