Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan intend to strengthen transit, transport and logistics cooperation. This possibility and prospects were discussed at a meeting in Tashkent by the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan Beibut Atamkulov and the head of the Ministry of Transport of Uzbekistan Ilkhom Makhkamov, Sputnik reports.
The parties reviewed the results of work for 2023, as well as the implementation of the road map in the transit, transport and logistics spheres, signed following the state visit of the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to Uzbekistan in December 2022.
The meeting participants noted the dynamics of growth in the volume of rail and road freight transportation. Thus, the total volume of railway cargo transportation between the republics in 2023 increased by 17.2% and amounted to 31.4 million tons. In 2022, this figure was 26.8 million tons.
At the same time, current issues of freight rail and road transportation, the development of uniform standards of requirements for ensuring the safety of passenger road transport on international routes between the cities of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the resumption of air traffic in the directions Almaty-Nukus, Aktobe-Nukus, as well as the opening of new connections between tourist centers Turkestan-Samarkand, Turkestan-Bukhara and Turkestan-Urgench.
Currently, 25 flights a week are operated between the cities of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan: Astana-Tashkent, 8 flights (Fly Arystan – 3, Uzbekistan Airways – 5); Almaty-Tashkent, 17 flights (Air Astana – 7, Uzbekistan Airways – 10), the department said in a statement.
Taking into account the annual growth of trade and commodity turnover, transit cargo transportation between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, as well as the expected increase in trade turnover to $10 billion, the parties pointed to the need to expand and improve the transport infrastructure between the states.
CentralAsianLIGHT.org
March 11, 2024