BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 20. Trend News Agency presents an overview of the most important events of Uzbekistan’s transport sector in the third quarter of 2023.
Road transport development
On July 31, Uzbekistan and the Chinese Yutong bus manufacturing business inked a bilateral memorandum that included an agreement to carry out cooperation projects in the field of unmanned autonomous vehicles.
Furthermore, representatives from Dongfeng Motor (a car manufacturer), Luoyang Grasen Power Technology (which specializes in the research and development, manufacturing, sales, and service of new energy electric vehicle charging equipment), and Tunghsu Group (which primarily develops, manufactures, and sells liquid crystal displays and plasma display panel glass substrates) visited the region in September to discuss potential future collaboration.
Dongfeng Motor plans to open production of electric buses, investing $45 million in the project. The volume of investments will rise to $50 million in 2025 to localize the production of batteries and other components for electric vehicles, as well as organize a maintenance service.
Luoyang Grasen Power Technology Company plans to launch the production of electric vehicle chargers in Uzbekistan. The company's potential investment in this project is estimated at $30 million. In addition, Tunghsu Group is ready to invest $50 million in a solar panel project.
Furthermore, China’s EXEED car manufacturer expressed its readiness to launch production of its new RX model in Uzbekistan in 2024.
Uzbekistan’s Tashkent Invest company and Malaysian Gemilang Coachwork Sdn Bhd, a bus manufacturing company, signed a memorandum of mutual understanding for cooperation in the field of bus production at the end of September.
Railroad transport development
The first container block train from Lanzhou station along the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan-Afghanistan multimodal route was sent on July 5.
As Uzbekistan Railways informed, the container block train, consisting of 30 units of 40-foot containers, departed from Lanzhou, China, carrying consumer goods. The total distance of the entire route is over 6,500 kilometers, with a total weight of over 700 tons. The estimated travel time is about 16–18 days.
Moreover, China has started railroad cargo transportation from Zhangjiakou to Uzbekistan. The first shipment, consisting of car components, household appliances, and textiles, left for the Uzbek capital on August 29.
By the end of September, Uzbekistan announced new rules for railway cargo transportation, which will come into force by the end of 2023.
The Rules for the Carriage of Goods by Rail of the Republic of Uzbekistan define the procedure and conditions for the organization of cargo transportation by rail to ensure traffic safety and the integrity of cargo and railway structures in motion.
The document is also aimed at compliance with environmental safety, taking into account the peculiarities of cargo on the public railways of Uzbekistan.
Air service development
Uzbekistan's UzAviation Agency has given several foreign airlines permission to operate regular flights to the country based on intergovernmental agreements on air communication.
Thus, starting on August 3, 2023, Uzbekistan Airways renewed air service on the Tashkent-Bangalore- Tashkent route.
IndiGo (India) has been permitted to fly on the Delhi-Tashkent-Delhi route using A320neo and A321neo planes, and LOT Polish Airlines (Poland) on the Warsaw-Tashkent-Warsaw route using Boeing 737-8MAX planes.
Besides, Malinda Airways (Malaysia) has received permission for Kuala Lumpur-Tashkent-Kuala Lumpur flights on A330 planes.
Furthermore, Russian UVT Aero airline has received approval for regular flights to Uzbekistan on August 17, 2023. The transportation is carried out by CRJ-200 aircraft on the Kazan-Samarkand-Kazan route.
Turkish Freebird Airlines launches direct charter flights between Samarkand (Uzbekistan) and Bodrum (Türkiye) on September 7, 2023.
Uzbekistan and Israel signed a Protocol on Amendments to the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Government of the State of Israel on Air Traffic signed on July 4, 1994. The protocol suggests lifting restrictions on the number of air carriers and destinations for air traffic between the two countries, as well as providing new opportunities for the two countries to open promising air routes, attract new airlines, and increase mutual tourist flow.
Uzbekistan’s Uzaviation has offered German Lufthansa Airlines to start flying to Uzbekistan again. Director of Uzaviation Agency Tahir Nazarov and the representatives of German Airlines negotiated on strengthening transport and logistics ties, increasing mutual tourist flows, and launching new tourist routes between the two countries, more specifically, the restart of the Frankfurt-Tashkent flight.
Regarding the development of Uzbekistan’s air transport infrastructure, Uzbekistan has opened a new airport in the region of Zaamin at the beginning of September 2023.
Cooperation with international partners
Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev proposed to create a unified transport connectivity map between the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) members. He made the remark while addressing the participants of a virtual SCO Summit hosted by India on July 4.
Furthermore, on July 4, North China's Hebei province launched a new international multimodal transport route to Uzbekistan. After arriving at Kashgar City in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the goods will be transported via cross-border highways to Kyrgyzstan, where they will be loaded back into trains and transshipped to the final destination of Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The total length of this route, which connects China with Uzbekistan, is about 6,000 km. The train is expected to arrive in Tashkent in about 12 days.
On July 19, 2023, during the summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Central Asian countries held in Jeddah, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev proposed to work on applying favorable transit tariffs along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR).
In the beginning of August, Uzbekistan announced its readiness to increase the transshipment capacity of the Middle Corridor to 1.5 million tons. As per Bekzod Kholmatov, Director of the Center for the Study of Problems of Transport and Logistics Development under the Ministry of Transport of Uzbekistan, the volume of cargo transferred between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan is increasing rapidly, and the Middle Corridor plays an important role in this context.
Moreover, on September 22, South Korea and Uzbekistan agreed to create joint transport and logistics companies. Following the meeting between the Chairwoman of Uzbekistan’s Senate, Oliy Majlis Tanzila Narbayeva, and the First Deputy Chairman of the Korean-Uzbek Business Association, Kim Chang Keon, in Seoul, the parties emphasized that the new joint ventures will serve the exports of Uzbek goods to South Korea.
