Muzart Port is located 109 kilometers southwest of Zhaosu County, Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture. It is nine kilometers from the No. 74 Regiment of the No. 4 Agriculture Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and 296 kilometers from Yining City. Its counterpart in Kazakhstan is Narynkol Port, just four kilometers distant. The two ports are about 320 kilometers from Almaty.
Before 1953, Muzart was a temporary Sino-Soviet commodity exchange area where barter trade between border peoples was conducted. In August 1992, the Chinese and Kazakhstan governments agreed to open the port to people, vehicles and commodities of the two countries. The State Council approved the plan in March 1994, but formal operations have not yet begun. It is expected to have an annual goods handling capacity of 50,000 tons and capable of handling the transit of 30,000 people.
(China.org.cn December 15, 2004)
