Uzbekistan, Tashkent, July 19 / Trend D.Azizov /
Uzbek President Islam Karimov has approved an agreement to build a new international transport corridor that would link Central Asian countries with ports in the Persian Gulf, a government source told Trend.
Karimov assigned the Uzbek Foreign Ministry to direct corresponding notification to relevant agencies about implementing inter-state procedures necessary for Uzbekistan to enforce the agreement.
Karimov proposed building a transport corridor between Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Oman-Qatar and other states of the Persian Gulf in Ashgabat in October 2010. The foreign ministers of Iran, Oman, Qatar, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan signed a corresponding agreement in Ashgabat in April this year.
The Transport Corridor will allow Central Asian countries to gain access to Gulf markets and to differentiate the market for petroleum products in Central Asia.
It is assumed that the corridor will run from Turkmenistan to Uzbekistan, then to Iran, Oman and Qatar, and would link Central Asia to Iranian ports in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. In the future, Russia and China will be given the choice to join this corridor.