Fifth Consultative Meeting of the Heads of Central Asian States: strengthening the transport interconnectedness of the region

The jubilee Fifth Consultative Meeting of the Heads of Central Asian States, which took place on September 14 in Dushanbe, became a truly historic event, embodying a vivid example of solidarity of regional cooperation, as well as readiness to strengthen peace and stability in the region.

It should be noted that during the existence of the Consultative Meetings platform itself, a trust-based basis was created for discussing issues related to the development of the region, security and cooperation in Central Asia.
In this context, it is important to emphasize the economic value of this format of cooperation. Over the past 6 years, the combined GDP of the five countries has doubled, amounting to more than $ 400 billion. Mutual trade is growing dynamically. In the total volume of foreign trade turnover of the Central Asian countries, it increased from 6% in 2014 to 11% in 2022.
Stability, security and the formation of a capacious interconnected market in Central Asia are attracting more and more attention from investors. In 2022 alone, the volume of foreign direct investment in this region reached more than $40 billion, which is 2.8% of the total global investment. And the accumulated total volume of FDI in the region since 2000 has exceeded $250 billion.
As a result of intraregional cooperation, the Index of Cooperation of Central Asian countries for 2017-2021 increased 1.3 times from 28% to 38%.
Within the framework of the Dushanbe meeting of the heads of Central Asia, a number of significant economic achievements and prospects for cooperation were discussed. 
Special attention is paid to the issue of strengthening regional transport connectivity.
As the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan stressed, the geographical distance of Central Asia from the main world markets greatly increases the costs of transporting goods from the countries of the region to international markets. Sometimes these costs reach up to 50% of the total cost of production, which is much higher than the global average, which is 11%. This factor has a negative impact on the competitiveness of Central Asian products and the transport sector as a whole.
In this regard, the joint efforts of the countries of the region in this direction are of particular importance. Based on this, the first meeting of transport ministers of Central Asian countries was organized within the framework of the Consultative Meeting. Following its results, a joint communique on cooperation in the field of transport and logistics was adopted.
The World Bank experts note that the application of an integrated approach to improving transport infrastructure in Central Asia, aimed at reducing the delivery time of goods and reducing trade tariffs, can contribute to an increase in the GDP of the countries of the region by about 15%.
During the meeting, the Head of Uzbekistan proposed to develop and adopt an agreement on transport and transit in Central Asia. The purpose of this proposal is to further increase the transport potential of the region by increasing the efficiency and reliability of transport services, reducing transport costs. 
The initiatives put forward play a key role in strengthening economic ties between the Central Asian countries and their integration into the world economy. 
This will undoubtedly contribute to the growth of international trade and investment, the creation of jobs and the maintenance of sustainable economic development in the region, which is an important aspect of social and political stability.

Nurmukhammad Bakhtiyorov,
Leading Researcher 
International Institute of Central Asia