Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 4 August 2020, a summit of the Leaders of the countries of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan was held in Ashgabat, where the parties agreed to actively expand practical cooperation in the areas of trade, industry, energy, agriculture and water management and others priority areas.

Particular attention was paid to the development of the transport sector, in particular, the simplification of customs procedures, the introduction of digital systems, an increase in the throughput and volumes of container traffic, the creation of joint terminals for the transportation and storage of goods.

The President of Uzbekistan paid special attention to combining efforts to create an integrated transport infrastructure.

The leader of our country expressed the opinion that the development of the corridor "Uzbekistan - Turkmenistan - Iran", the active use of the potential of the Trans-Caspian route will increase the attractiveness of Central Asia as a transit center for international corridors East - West and North - South.

To this end, the Head of Uzbekistan proposed to jointly create favorable conditions for international carriers, accelerate digitalization and increase the throughput of checkpoints.

As a result of the summit, a joint declaration was signed, where the Heads of States of the three countries of Central Asia emphasized the importance of intensifying multimodal transportation along the transport route "Tajikistan-Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan", which provides access for the three countries to seaports, including the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf.

According to the UN, without the formation of effective transit transportation systems, the landlocked countries of Central Asia will lag behind the level of countries that have such access by an average of 20% and will not be able to be fully integrated into world economic relations.

In this regard, an agreement was reached at the summit on further optimization of tariffs and provision of favorable conditions for the transit transportation of foreign trade goods, and the Leaders of the three states instructed the heads of the transport departments of their states to hold a meeting before the end of this year.

World Bank experts note that an integrated approach to improving the transport connectivity of Central Asia and the region with other countries through investments in infrastructure and measures aimed at reducing the time of transportation of goods and trade tariffs, can increase the GDP of the countries of the region by about 15%.

Taking into account the significance and role of this summit and the importance of the initiatives put forward, the topic of transport interconnectedness will continue to be a key link in the further development of Central Asia.

Shavkat Alimbekov

Leading Research Fellow at the International Institute of Central Asia