Construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway will lift the region out of transportation deadlock, said the Prime Minister and Head of the Presidential Administration of Kyrgyzstan, Abylgaziyev Zhaparov, at the Tashkent Investment Forum on April 27.
He added that the implementation of the strategic project will also “connect about four billion people, expand the geography of transportation from Asia through Turkey to Europe, the Middle East, Iran, the Persian Gulf countries, and North Africa.”
In his speech, the Kyrgyz Prime Minister also outlined the “competitive advantages” of Central Asia, stating that “we see our region as a single geo-economic space, in which all forms of economic cooperation and interaction are successfully formed. Moreover, all components of this system complement and strengthen each other. The important condition here is to ensure the four ‘freedoms’: the movement of people, goods, services, and capital. There is a lot of work to be done, but everything is achievable with good will.”
“We see our region as a geopolitical mediator through which international politics and centers of influence of countries located in the East, West, North, and South are interacting,” said Akylbek Zhaparov.
“We see our region as actively interacting and dynamically developing communities that share and support similar cultural, historical, and traditional values and beliefs,” he added.
In 2022, an agreement was signed between Uzbekistan, China, and Kyrgyzstan for the development of a technical and economic justification for the section of the route “Torugart-Arpa-Kosh-Dobo-Makmal-Jalal-Abad” with a length of 280 km. The technical and economic justification for the construction project of the railway is planned to be prepared by June 1, 2023. The project institute of China will be responsible for the development of the documentation.
