BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 29. As the situation around the Ukrainian crisis takes on unpredictable contours, supply chains, trade routes and international logistics networks connecting East-West and North-South are disrupted, the convergence of the economic systems of Central Asia and the South Caucasus is of particular importance, in which Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan play key roles, Head of the International Relations Department at the University of World Economy and Diplomacy of Uzbekistan Ulugbek Khasanov told Trend.
According to Khasanov, interregional transport and logistics corridors are becoming a fundamental vector in expanding economic cooperation.
"Numerous rail transport routes, which make up the lion's share of the transport market between China and Europe via rail networks, rely on the existing infrastructure of the Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Caspian ferry system with access to the Trans-Caucasus route between Baku and Kars via the Zangazur corridor and Tbilisi," he said.
Khasanov believes such a project is quite promising and implies a diversified offer of China-Europe transit.
"The market for container shipping between Europe, Central Asia and East Asia is admittedly growing rapidly but not fully exploited. Several state players in the region, in particular China, Turkiye and Iran, intend to activate the map of Chinese proposals for the development of the trans-regional logistics sector, as a trigger for the revitalization of industrial development, making such a passage as the main passage between the Chinese and European markets, with political support of Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan,” he said.
According to him, the most important part of this vision is the revival of the Zangazur corridor, which is a railway link through the territory of Armenia, which will connect mainland Azerbaijan with its Nakhchivan enclave on the border with Turkiye.
“This would allow Azerbaijan to create some kind of gateway to the Caspian basin and support one of the fastest and most cost-effective railway networks of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan with the shortest access to China,” Khasanov said.