Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 20
By Fikret Dolukhanov – Trend:
Uzbekistan hopes for the soonest start of construction of the Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan-China railway with its subsequent connection via the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway to the countries of Southern and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and to the Mediterranean ports within the East-West project, Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov said.
He made the remarks at the opening of the "Central Asia in the System of International Transport Corridors: Strategic Perspectives and Unrealized Opportunities" international conference in Tashkent on Sept. 20.
During his speech, the Uzbek prime minister voiced the proposals of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the countries of Central Asia on development of transport systems in the region.
Aripov noted that according to the calculations of UN experts, as a result of the cooperation of Central Asian countries, regional GDP could grow at least twice in 10 years.
"Within the framework of the Ashgabat agreement, we began to form the Russia-Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Oman-India subregional transport corridor," Aripov said.
The prime minister emphasized that it is important to involve Afghanistan in transport integration.
"The Hayraton-Mazar-i-Sharif railway and the projected Mazar-i-Sharif-Herat highway will form a new transport corridor with connection to the Iranian, Pakistani and Indian railways and to the Chabahar and Gwadar ports within the framework of the North-South project," the head of the Uzbek government said.
The official opening ceremony of the BTK railway was held in Baku Oct. 30 last year. The BTK railway was constructed on the basis a Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish intergovernmental agreement.
The railway’s peak capacity will be 17 million tons of cargo per year. At an initial stage, this figure will be one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo.
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