Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, during his speech at a meeting of the Council of CIS Heads of State, put forward a number of key initiatives to address pressing problems. 

In particular, the Head of Uzbekistan identified increasing the competitiveness of transport corridors, the harmonization of technical regulations and standards, the implementation of an agreed tariff policy and the mutual provision of preferences, as well as the speedy resumption of air communication on a reciprocal basis as priority tasks in the field of transport.

It is important to note that the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, participating and speaking at international forums of high and high level, puts forward global ideas and initiatives aimed, on the one hand, at joint development, on the other, at finding ways to solve key issues of the global and regional agenda. One of these areas is the development of transport and communication links.

In this context, it should be emphasized that the relevance and timeliness of the initiative of the President of Uzbekistan lies in the fact that it is aimed, firstly, at a comprehensive discussion of the most pressing issues in the field of transport and logistics in the CIS space, and secondly, at the development of joint efforts of international transport corridors within the "North-South" and "East-West", which are important directions for the transportation of goods and products along a shorter and more economical route between the countries of Asia and Europe, thirdly, to develop new measures and proposals to strengthen transport and transit potential of the CIS countries.

It should be emphasized that the CIS countries, being in the vast Eurasian space, have unique opportunities to participate in the global processes of transport and communication interaction, given that the CIS space acts as a global transport and communication link between the West and the East.

Today, in the CIS space, strengthening cooperation in the transport sector acts as an important tool for the development of social and economic relations, and also contributes to the free movement of goods and services and the improvement of the conditions and quality of life of the population.

Over the years of cooperation, a huge amount of work has been done in this direction between the states of the Commonwealth, in particular, a legal basis for the functioning of transport has been formed, which ensures the interstate regulation of transport activities, bodies of sectoral cooperation of the CIS have been created, and a coordinated transport policy is being carried out aimed at solving certain tasks of a general transport nature and development certain types of transport.

Despite this, at present, the level of transport interaction in the CIS is not fully utilized, and some problematic issues remain. For example, the share of transport costs in the cost of goods when transporting goods between the CIS member states is 20-25%.

In addition, the growing demand for high-quality services, primarily for the international transportation of passengers and goods, is happening against the background of the aging of the rolling stock, insufficient pace of its renewal, as well as the accumulated lag in the implementation of transport and logistics technologies.

Problems in the development of transport in the CIS are also exacerbated due to existing infrastructural constraints, insufficient financial resources for the implementation of investment projects for the development of the transport system, a shortage of highly qualified specialists, as well as the presence of various kinds of fiscal, administrative and technical barriers, which does not allow the effective implementation of foreign trade and transit potential of the CIS region.

It is also important to note that due to the coronavirus pandemic, airlines of almost all countries of the world suffered losses, which negatively affected the state of national economies. According to the forecasts of the International Air Transport Association, the world’s airlines will lose US$118 billion this year, in 2021 - about US$38 billion. These trends testify to the actualization of the earliest possible resumption of air traffic in all regions of the world, including the CIS space.

In such conditions, the implementation of infrastructure projects and the initiation of new proposals for expanding and deepening transport cooperation acquire special relevance to give a new impetus to the development of economic relations in the CIS space.

During the presidency of Uzbekistan in 2020, the CIS carried out systematic work in this direction. Thus, Uzbekistan, as the chairman of the CIS, initiated the adoption of a number of strategic documents in the transport sector, including the decision of the Council of CIS Heads of Governments "On Priority Areas of Cooperation of the CIS Member States in the Field of Transport for the Period up to 2030", the Action Plan for the Implementation of the Transport Security Strategy in the territories of the CIS member states in the implementation of international traffic for the period 2020-2025, the Concept for the further development of the CIS and the Plan of main measures for its implementation, etc.

The implementation of the outlined priority tasks in these strategic documents in the future will provide significant assistance in improving the regulatory framework for cooperation in the field of transport, increasing the efficiency of implementing the transit potential of the CIS member states, developing international transport corridors in the CIS, increasing the efficiency of the agreed tariff policy in the field of international railway transportation and the implementation of a coordinated policy in the field of transport security, as well as solving problematic issues in this area.

At present, the intensification of transport cooperation in the CIS space is possible due to the formation of new transport corridors. For example, the China - Kyrgyzstan - Uzbekistan railway can become one of the important links in promising transport corridors, which will open up new sales markets for products, transport goods from China through Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan to Eastern Europe and the Middle East, and provide to international seaports for the geographically closed states of Central Asia. According to experts, today more than 90% of freight traffic in intercontinental trade between Asia and Europe is carried out by sea.

This project will also provide an opportunity for the CIS countries to intensify container traffic along the China-Europe route. In the context of the coronavirus pandemic, container traffic through this route has increased. So, for nine months of this year. transportation of containers along the China-Europe route amounted to 388 thousand units (an increase of 61% compared to the same period in 2019).

All this makes it necessary to consolidate efforts in this direction with the participation of the CIS countries. Undoubtedly, the effective use of the transport and communication systems of the CIS countries will provide the shortest routes between Europe and Asia, access to the markets and sea routes of the Near and Middle East, China, Russia and European countries.

Thus, the initiative of the Head of our state will allow, firstly, to make a great contribution to the creation of favorable conditions for long-term and multilateral cooperation in the formation of a regional transport and communication system of the Commonwealth countries and to intensify efforts to develop new projects in the field of transport and logistics, and secondly, the formation of a common transport space of the CIS; thirdly, an increase in the competitiveness of international transport corridors passing through the territory of the Commonwealth state.

Farrukh Juraev,

Expert of ISMI under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan