Uzbekistan offers to create transport corridors in Central Asia

The President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, has proposed the creation of a regional council for transport communications for the countries of Central Asia yesterday.

He said this during an international conference titled "Central Asia in the System of International Transport Corridors: Strategic Perspectives and Unrealized Opportunities," which opened in Tashkent yesterday with the participation of 300 representatives from 37 countries.

"It is advisable to create a regional council for transport communications of the countries of Central Asia, which will become a coordinating structure in solving problems in the transport and logistics sphere," Mirziyoyev said, as reported by RIA Novosti. Mirziyoyev noted that it is necessary to develop a strategy for the development of regional transport corridors in Central Asia as well as to adopt a regional program on the sustainable development of the transport system for the countries in the region.

Mirziyoyev earlier reiterated the intention to join the Council of Cooperation of the Turkic-Speaking Countries, also known as the Turkic Council, which was established in October 2009 with Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey.

During former Uzbek leader Islam Karimov's rule, relations with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan were severely strained over border security, water resources and transit routes.