BEIJING - Two Chinese companies on Monday signed a contract with Kazakhstan's national railway company to buy 49 percent of an inland port near the China-Kazakhstan border.

China COSCO Shipping Corporation and Jiangsu Lianyungang Port Co will each hold 24.5 percent of the dry port located in the Khorgos-East Gate special economic zone, according to a statement from China COSCO Shipping.

The dry port is about 15 km from the Khorgos port in China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region on the border of the two countries. From the port, railway cargo can reach Lianyungang in east China's Jiangsu in five days and reach Europe in about 10 days.

Xu Lirong, chairman of China COSCO Shipping, said the dry port is the company's first overseas railway investment project since the corporation was established.

The company aims to build it into an important trade passageway and a model project for China and Kazakhstan under the Belt and Road Initiative.

China COSCO Shipping is a state-owned company set up in early 2016 after the merger of COSCO and China Shipping.