Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Today, trade and economic ties between member countries of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) are intensively developing. In 2021 alone, the foreign trade turnover of the Republic of Uzbekistan with the OTS member countries amounted to US$8.3 billion, of which exports amounted to US$3.1 billion, imports - US$5.3 billion.

The volume of cargo transportation of Uzbekistan with the OTS countries in 2021 amounted to 27.6 million tons, of which more than 80% was by rail and more than 18% by road.

Ensuring interdependence in the field of transport and communications plays an important role in the further development of economic ties and the overall development of the OTS member countries, as well as regions.

Considering these aspects, on 12 November 2021, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, in his speech at the 8th Summit of the Organization of Turkic States, drew attention to the need to establish cooperation in the field of transport and transit on a systematic basis.

As the head of our state noted in his speech, the regions inhabited by the Turkic peoples have served as a transport and trade bridge between East and West, North and South for thousands of years.

The situation observed in the world today requires common approaches to the development of the transport and communications sector and the diversification of routes along which foreign trade goods are transported. Considering the current situation, the development of alternative transport routes, further simplification of the processes of international freight traffic in cooperation with the OTS member countries and the states of the region, the introduction of digital technologies in the industry and increasing the transit potential of the region are of great importance.

It should be noted that the shortest transcontinental routes between Europe and Asia pass through the Turkic states, so their unification and integration not only leads to an increase in transit traffic, but also actively contributes to the development of all countries of the Eurasian continent.

The space covering almost 200 million inhabitants in an area of 4 million square kilometers in the organization’s area of influence is a large market. In addition, when organizing the export of various goods produced in the Turkic-speaking states of the Central Asian region to European markets, the transport corridors of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Turkey provide a very efficient and convenient opportunity.

As part of last year’s summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States, the heads of state unanimously declared their commitment to using existing and prospective regional transport corridors in the common interests of the member states and integrating them into the East-West Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor.

The joint goal of developing the Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor "East-West" was reflected in the strategic document "View of the Turkic World - 2040".

It should be noted that Uzbekistan actively uses the routes "China - Kyrgyzstan - Uzbekistan - Turkmenistan - the Caspian Sea - Azerbaijan - Georgia - Turkey - Europe", "China - Kyrgyzstan - Uzbekistan - Kazakhstan - the Caspian Sea - Azerbaijan - Georgia - Turkey - Europe", passing through the Caspian Sea. In addition, within the framework of OTS cooperation, work is underway to develop the Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor with the participation of the Uzbek, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Azerbaijani and Turkish sides.

In the end, as the President of Uzbekistan noted in his speech at the informal summit of the Turkic Council in March 2021, “it is important to ensure access through Central Asia to the main world markets, including China, India, Pakistan and other Asian countries, as well as through Azerbaijan and Turkey to European markets.

Today, 97 percent of India’s and Pakistan’s total trade with the EU countries, as well as with China, is carried out by sea. In this context, transport corridors in the space of the ATC countries are considered as attractive and convenient transit crossroads in the land direction.

For more efficient use of the potential of land and multimodal transport corridors, it is necessary to complete the formation of a single transport network that creates a global continuous supply chain between the OTS countries and other regions.

Of great importance in this direction is the acceleration of the implementation of the construction projects of the railways "Termez-Mazar-i-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar" and "China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan". Prior to the completion of construction work on these projects, it is necessary to establish the operation of transport corridors through the organization of multimodal transportation.

In order to develop the transport corridor "China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan-Afghanistan", by the joint efforts of the parties, in September of this year, a trial movement of a container freight train was launched along the new transit route "Kashgar - Osh - Andijan - Pobeda - Hairatan".

The states participating in the route provided tariff preferences for transportation through the territory of their country.

The implementation of the above projects will increase the efficiency of existing international transport corridors and form new international transport corridors. This will allow the OTS countries to diversify routes, expand the geography of transportation, as well as attract additional transit volumes, providing access to new markets.

At the 8th summit of the Organization of Turkic States, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev took the initiative to develop a "program of interaction between the organization of Turkic states in the transport sector."

The need for such a program is due to the fact that recently in Uzbekistan and other Turkic countries, significant work has been carried out to develop transport infrastructure, diversify transport directions, and simplify processes related to transit. However, the process of integration of the transport system of the Turkic states is not yet fully completed.

In this regard, the program of interaction in the transport sector proposed by the head of Uzbekistan is important in that it is aimed at improving the coordination of the activities of the member countries of the organization in creating the appropriate infrastructure.

As a result of the meeting of the ministers of transport of the Turkic states held in Tashkent, two important documents were agreed upon. This is an agreement on international multimodal transportation between the member states of the organization of Turkic states, put forward by Uzbekistan, and a program of cooperation in the field of transport, developed by the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

These documents are aimed at systematizing transport corridors passing through the territory of the Turkic states, promoting an increase in traffic on their territory, increasing the attractiveness of transport corridors, and stimulating the progressive development of the transport infrastructure of the countries.