Experts from both republics discussed measures to increase the potential of the Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan-China transport corridor.

Transport Minister of Uzbekistan Ilhom Makhkamov met with the Minister of Transport, Architecture, Construction and Communications of Kyrgyzstan Gulmira Abdraliyeva. The aim of the meeting was a rational and effective use of the possibilities of the multimodal transport corridor Kashgar – Irkeshtam – Osh – Andijan – Tashkent.

Representatives of the delegations of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, headed by the ministers of relevant departments, are carrying out research work along the Osh – Sarytash – Irkeshtam corridor in order to build up and strengthen transport-communication ties between the countries.

In particular, the members of the delegation got acquainted with the activities of the Irkeshtam border customs post.

The ministers also discussed the prospects for interaction within the framework of agreements on the development and expansion of cooperation between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

A few days ago, during a meeting in Xi’an, Foreign Ministers of the countries Abdulaziz Kamilov and Wang Yi agreed to accelerate the implementation of the project to build a railway between the two states through the territory of Kyrgyzstan.

Along with multiple conventional corridors, for road transport a corridor following the route Andijan – Osh – Irkeshtam – Kashi (Kashgar) has very good prospects.

Road haulage along this route began since February 25 this year, with the direct involvement of the Ministry of Foreign Trade.

• For reference: Last year, between October 30 and November 3, an international pilot caravan trip was held with participation of 9 vehicles from 3 countries. Total distance of 920 kilometers was traveled in 31 hours, of which 16 hours on the move. The speed of the motorcade averaged approximately 50-60 km/h. Crossing of the UzbekistanKyrgyzstan border at BCP Dustlik took about 1.5 hours, and the KyrgyzChinese border at BCP Irkeshtam about 2 hours.

By Sher Karimov