Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has proposed accelerating the establishment of a Council for Infrastructure Development of Central Asian countries and holding its first meeting in Uzbekistan. He 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 Awaza. He said the region had 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, the president said, it would not be enough simply to develop roads and railways. A unified transport infrastructure system needs to be created.
“A common logic for the development of transport infrastructure is needed,” Mirziyoyev said.
The president proposed coordinating major infrastructure projects so that individual routes complement one another and operate as a single network. The Council for Infrastructure Development would, under his proposal, coordinate this work.
Mirziyoyev placed particular emphasis on the economic benefits of developing transport corridors. In his view, production facilities, logistics and service infrastructure, 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 the benefits they provide to all countries through which the routes pass.
The president also noted that closer regional ties are developing against the backdrop of a rapidly changing international environment. Trade and transport links are being restructured, new risks are emerging and tensions are increasing. Under these conditions, he stressed, Central Asian countries need to strengthen coordination.
Mirziyoyev separately outlined the next stage of Central Asia’s cooperation with neighbouring regions, including interaction in transport, trade and energy. These issues are proposed for detailed discussion 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 Awaza was held for the first time with the participation of Azerbaijan.
