I do not say the political side – the Minister talks about the transport projects of Uzbekistan

Today, on November 2, the 12th meeting of the Ministers of Transport of the member countries of the Economic Cooperation Organization was held in Tashkent. The issues of expanding transport and trade relations between Uzbekistan and partner countries, building new transport corridors, and further developing existing ones were discussed at the meeting.
According to the participants, it is necessary to raise the quality of cooperation to a new level. This can be achieved through new projects such as the development of interregional transport and road infrastructure, optimization of transit tariffs, facilitation of conditions for international cargo transportation.

The Tashkent Declaration was also adopted during the meeting. It covers a number of issues such as the development of the transport sector, digitization of international transport corridors, sustainable socio-economic development in the current extremely complex geopolitical environment.

The Minister of Transport of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Ilham Makhkamov, made several proposals for the implementation of such plans: among others, the development of Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan and Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan-China transport corridors; granting Samarkand airport the status of an ECO regional air hub for the development of tourism among the participating countries; creating favorable conditions for increasing the transit of goods through the ECO countries, applying flexible tariff policies, and facilitating the transportation process; transferring procedures for customs clearance of goods and shipment documents through E-Permit, E-TIR, E-Transit to a fully digitized system.
Also, during the event, a number of achievements achieved so far in mutual cooperation between the countries, projects being implemented, and planned expansions in the transport system were also highlighted.

However, in today's extremely complicated geopolitical situation, one should not forget how promising such projects are and what position partner countries can take within the project. For example, another member state of the organization - India - has expressed its opposition to the "One Belt - One Road" project, which is being implemented within the framework of the member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The reason for this is that the construction of a part of the project will pass through Kashmir, which has been in the vortex of constant conflicts between India and Pakistan. India calls it a threat to its sovereignty and territorial integrity. The fact that Russia, a permanent member of the organization, and Iran, which recently joined it, are under sanctions, can further complicate the situation. For this reason, QALAMPIR.UZ asked the Minister of Transport of Uzbekistan whether Uzbekistan still considers the SCO as the only route to the sea or whether the country is already looking for other routes. The minister gave a short, concise, but vague answer.

"I say one thing: I do not tell you about the political side; I tell you as the official Minister of Transport. It is necessary to use all the possibilities that can be used as an alternative corridor for the Republic of Uzbekistan. Whether it's the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization or the member states of the Economic Cooperation Organization as it is today, our mission is through all the bordering countries, all the countries involved in the middle, that can access the open sea port, to establish cooperation with other countries," says the minister.

For information, at the end of the article about the C5+1 conference held in Samarkand, "The Diplomat," which is a famous publication of the world, added, " maybe some of the new funds will go to media training for ministers."