Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- International transport corridors are important for the development of trade and economic cooperation between countries, as well as for strengthening regional economic integration.

Against the backdrop of an increase in the volume of traffic between Asia and Europe, the task of increasing the capacity and stabilizing the functioning of international transport corridors, including multimodal ones, is becoming increasingly urgent.

Issues related to the development of international transport corridors were discussed during the round table “North-South Corridor: Opportunities and Challenges” held in Bangkok as part of the 7th plenary meeting of the ESCAP Committee on Transport.

In the Development Strategy of New Uzbekistan, one of the priority areas is to increase transit opportunities, create "green corridors" for foreign trade and increase the volume of transit cargo.

One of the mechanisms for the implementation of this direction is the development of multimodal transportation of goods transported in the "North-South" direction through the Republic of Uzbekistan, including the Trans-Afghan corridor ("Termez - Mazar-i-Sharif - Kabul - Peshawar").

In this regard, the Center for the Study of Problems of the Development of Transport and Logistics under the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Uzbekistan, together with Uzbekistan Temir Yollari JSC, proposes and calculates various options for reorienting cargo from existing transport corridors, mainly maritime ones, to new short routes, including, among other things, passing through the territory of Uzbekistan.

Director of the Center for the Study of Transport and Logistics Development under the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Uzbekistan Bekzod Kholmatov, who took part in the event, informed in detail about this.

Evidence-based proposals have been developed for the creation of multimodal transport corridors Russia - Kazakhstan - Uzbekistan - Afghanistan - Pakistan and Belarus - Russia - Kazakhstan - Uzbekistan - Afghanistan - Pakistan as an alternative transport corridor to the Eastern direct railway route of the North-South corridor.

It is important that the distance of the proposed transport corridors is 1.5–2 times shorter. Negotiations are currently underway to establish these multimodal transport corridors.

The launch of new multimodal transport corridors will increase the efficiency of transport and logistics processes. In addition, an increase in the export of transport and logistics services provided between the main markets of the Eurasian states through the Central Asian region will increase the speed of delivery of goods to the client.