Uzbekistan believes in success of Zangazur Corridor project

Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan have been building up bilateral cooperation in recent years and actively support each other on multilateral platforms. Close cooperation is especially evident in the field of transport and logistics. Abdusamat Muminov, an Uzbek transport expert who at the time of this interview (July 8) held the position of deputy minister of transport, spoke about the implementation of joint projects and future plans in an interview with Report.

- Uzbekistan intends to create its own warehouse infrastructure in the Baku port. Could you please tell us about this project in more detail, about the possible timing of its implementation, as well as other transport and logistics projects that Uzbekistan plans to implement in cooperation with Azerbaijan?

- Cooperation between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan today is at a high level, both in the political and economic fields, and especially in the field of transport and logistics. The working groups are actively functioning in both countries and they are exploring the possibilities of increasing bilateral and transit transportation of goods along the Middle Corridor.

In 2022, the volume of export-import cargo transportation from Uzbekistan through the Baku port amounted to 904,000 tons, which is 65% more compared to 2021. The volumes of transportation of food cargoes, including raw sugar, mineral fertilizers and container transportations have noticeably increased.

Uzbek entrepreneurs are interested in access to a warehouse infrastructure on the territory of the Baku port, and work is currently underway to study this issue.

Our importers are interested in cooperation with the Baku port and aim to either rent a mineral fertilizer terminal on a long-term basis or invest in it. Now this issue is being studied and work is underway to prepare a feasibility study.

For the development of transportation along the Middle Corridor, the countries participating in the project create favorable conditions, including providing tariff preferences for the transportation of goods. Joint work is being carried out to further improve the conditions for the transportation of goods along the Middle Corridor and optimize transport costs in relation to traditional transport corridors.

- What efforts are being taken to increase the flow of goods along the multimodal transport route of Central Asia, the South Caucasus and Anatolia (CASCA+)? How has the dynamics of cargo transportation on it changed since the beginning of the year? Which countries can be attracted for further development of this route?

- Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Türkiye, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan are participating in the CASCA+ project. This route transports goods both among the participating countries and from China to Europe and vice versa.

There is an agreement between the participants on the provision of preferential tariffs, which allowed Uzbekistan to increase the export transportation of goods in containers to Türkiye and the countries of the European Union. Exporters and importers are interested in organizing the transportation of goods along the Middle Corridor.

In the near future, negotiations are expected with the participation of the heads of railway structures of the CASCA+ participating countries, as well as China. If we succeed in obtaining preferential tariffs for cargo transportation from the Chinese side, we can expect a significant increase in cargo transportation along CASCA+ and the Middle Corridor as well.

Uzbekistan supports the creation of alternative routes, and in this context, the Zangazur Corridor will provide an additional flow of cargo to Azerbaijan. We believe in the success of this project, its speedy implementation, since Azerbaijan has all the necessary resources for this, both financial and human ones.

- What is the role of Uzbekistan in The Belt and Road Initiative? What format of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, in your opinion, can be built within this initiative?

- To date, a feasibility study has already been prepared for the construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway. In May of this year, a tripartite document was signed in Xi’an, which provides for further steps to implement the railway construction project.

The document will accelerate the implementation of the project. I would like to note that according to preliminary calculations, the implementation of the project will increase the volume of cargo transportation by 12-15 million tons per year, reduce the distance from the countries of East Asia to the countries of the Middle East and Southern Europe by almost 900 km and 7-8 days.

As for financing, we intend to apply either to international financial institutions or directly to the Chinese side. We think that if all these issues are resolved, the construction will take about three years.