Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has proposed accelerating the creation of the Council for Infrastructure Development of the Central Asian countries and holding its first meeting in Uzbekistan. The head of state also called for linking the region through a unified modern transport and logistics network.
Mirziyoyev made the proposals at the Consultative Meeting of the Heads of State of Central Asia in Avaza. According to him, the region has the potential to become one of the key land routes for global trade while also developing into a major centre of economic activity.
To achieve this, simply developing roads and railways is not enough, the president said. A unified transport infrastructure system needs to be established.
“We need a common approach to the development of transport infrastructure,” Mirziyoyev said.
The president proposed coordinating major infrastructure projects so that individual routes complement one another and operate as a single network. According to his proposal, this work should be coordinated by the Council for Infrastructure Development.
Mirziyoyev paid particular attention to the economic impact of developing transport corridors. In his view, production facilities, logistics and service facilities, as well as industrial zones, should be established along new routes.
Such an approach would help generate economic activity directly around transport corridors and increase their benefits for all countries through which the routes pass.
The president also noted that regional rapprochement is taking place against the backdrop of a rapidly changing international environment. Trade and transport links are being restructured, new risks are emerging and tensions are rising. Under these circumstances, he stressed, Central Asian countries need to strengthen coordination of their actions.
Mirziyoyev separately outlined the next stage of cooperation between Central Asia and neighbouring regions, including interaction in transport, trade and energy. He proposed discussing these issues in detail at the international conference “Interregional Dialogue for Peace and Sustainable Connectivity: The Central Asian Approach”, which will be held in Tashkent next year.
The Consultative Meeting in Avaza was held for the first time with the participation of Azerbaijan.
