TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, May 4. President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev proposed the establishment of a “Digital Customs and Logistics Alliance” within the framework of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) program, Trend reports via the press office of the Uzbek President.
He made the proposal during his speech at the 59th Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank Board of Governors in Samarkand on May 4.
The President noted that disruptions in global logistics corridors have already increased transportation costs for Central Asian countries by up to 30%, while delivery times have expanded by several weeks.
He also highlighted that construction has begun on the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, a strategic East-West transport corridor expected to significantly boost the region’s transit potential, reduce delivery times to around 10 days, and enable cargo volumes of up to 15 million tons per year.
In this context, the proposed Digital Customs and Logistics Alliance is intended to harmonize customs procedures, digitize documentation processes, and simplify cross-border freight transportation, thereby improving regional connectivity and logistics efficiency.
The Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program is a regional partnership launched in 1997 under the leadership of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to promote economic integration, connectivity, and development across Central Asia and neighboring regions. The initiative brings together 11 countries, including Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, China, Pakistan, Mongolia, Afghanistan and Georgia, along with several multilateral development partners such as the World Bank, IMF, EBRD and AIIB.
The program focuses on strengthening cooperation in key areas including transport, trade facilitation, energy, and digital connectivity, with a strong emphasis on developing regional transport corridors and simplifying cross-border procedures. Since its launch, CAREC has supported large-scale infrastructure and policy coordination projects aimed at reducing trade barriers, improving logistics efficiency, and enhancing the region’s integration into global markets, particularly for landlocked economies of Central Asia.
Today, CAREC serves as one of the main multilateral platforms for coordinating regional economic policies and infrastructure development in Eurasia, with the ADB acting as its secretariat and key implementing partner.