The Central Corridor is already playing one of the main roles in transit between East and West.
Uzbek Transport Minister Ilham Mahkamov said this in an exclusive interview with Trend on Friday.
‘The Central Corridor is already emerging as one of the main transport routes between East and West. We intend to co-operate even more actively with our colleagues from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in the development of this corridor,’ Mahkamov said during the ITF summit in Leipzig.
He said Uzbekistan was interested in diversifying its export and import routes and was even being pushed to do so.
‘We have to increase transit flows and at the same time diversify cargo transport routes, find new corridors for the goods we import and export. This is due to the geopolitical situation, because the entire logistics chain has changed,’ Mr Mahkamov added.
The minister noted that the countries participating in the Central Corridor still have a lot to work on, first of all, on tariffs and infrastructure.
‘The Central Corridor tariffs are not very competitive today compared to the Northern and Southern routes. The agreed reduction will stabilise the situation in terms of rail freight traffic compared to other corridors,’ Mahkamov said.
He stressed that we are talking about a 50 per cent reduction in tariffs.
‘In the five-party format, the railway administrations of the countries through which this route passes agreed on tariff preferences. I believe that this will help increase the volume of freight traffic along the corridor,’ he said.
According to Mahkamov, the Central Corridor has great potential.
‘Of course, there are still infrastructure issues that need to be addressed. We need to expand some parts of the corridor where there are traffic jams. But we see how our colleagues from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, as well as Azerbaijan and Georgia, are working to solve the existing problems, which gives us confidence that the Central Corridor will become one of the main transit routes,’ said Mr Mahkamov.
It should be noted that the ITF Summit on Transport for Sustainable Economies will be held in Leipzig (Germany) on 22-24 May 2024 under the Lithuanian chairmanship. Participants will exchange ideas on how transport can contribute to economic growth while promoting environmental and social sustainability.
The International Transport Forum (ITF) is an intergovernmental organisation of more than 60 countries, including Azerbaijan.
ITF was established within the OECD in 2006 as the successor to the European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT), which has been active since 1953.