Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Uzbek President Islam Karimov has signed a decree to approve the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the implementation of an agreement to establish the Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Oman international transport corridor.

This ambitious project aims to further enhance the mutually beneficial trade and economic cooperation among the countries of Central Asia and the Middle East.

The agreement to establish the Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Oman international transport corridor was signed in Ashgabat on April 25, 2011, while the MoU was signed in Masqat, Oman during a meeting of foreign ministers of the participating countries on August 6, 2014.

The new corridor will allow the Central Asian countries to be connected to the ports of the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman via an optimal route in the long term. According to the observers, Russia and China can also get a way to new solvent markets. This can give the trans-regional project even more economical attractiveness.

Uzbek president initiated the establishment of this transport corridor in October 2010.

The participating countries interested in cooperation believe that the initiative was timely and will contribute to further progress and prosperity of each of the countries in the region by expanding the trade volume and reducing the cost of transit of goods.

It is expected that the implementation of the project will allow expansion of trade and economic cooperation between the participant countries and increase the transit cargo traffic.

At the expert level, it is necessary to examine the prospects of cooperation in the fields of customs, transportation by vehicles, trains and ships and joint investments. The project is particularly important for Uzbekistan, which has no direct access to the sea.