A Trilateral Summit of the Presidents of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the Chairman of the Khalk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov took place on Friday, August 22 in the Avaza National Tourist Zone, the presidential press service said.
The leaders discussed ways to develop the multilateral cooperation in the trade and economic, transport and communications, energy and humanitarian areas.
At the beginning of his address, Shavkat Mirziyoyev congratulated Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov on the successful holding of the UN Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries, and Ilham Aliyev - on the recent signing of a peace declaration with Armenia in Washington.
The Uzbek leader made a number of proposals to expand multilateral cooperation.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev, in particular, expressed confidence that the conjugation of existing and prospective corridors will create a sustainable and efficient transcontinental route that will connect China with South Asia, the Middle East and Europe through the territories of three countries.
The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project is currently underway, while, a memorandum on the Trans-Afghan Corridor project was recently signed with Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev stressed that new cargo flows are designed to ensure the efficient loading of the infrastructure, primarily in Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
He also supported plans to develop the Middle Route, including the Zangezur Corridor.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev proposed to commence joint expert study of the ways to expand throughput capacity and setting up of a modern logistics infrastructure, including in the ports of Turkmenbashi and Baku, implementing a coordinated tariff policy, digitalizing procedures and ensuring control over cargo.
For its part, Uzbekistan expressed its readiness to reduce freight transportation tariffs on a reciprocal basis in order to ensure the shortest and most profitable access for business to key markets.
The President underscored that a consolidated approach would allow building pragmatic cooperation with states and international organizations — potential donors in the development of logistics infrastructure.
Along with this, Shavkat Mirziyoyev voiced Uzbekistan's interest in creating its own ferry capacities for transporting goods across the Caspian Sea.
Then the President moved on to the issue of energy. In order to ensure energy security, the need to deepen cooperation and develop corridors for the export of energy resources to third countries was noted. In this regard, he called the project for the supply of "green" energy to Europe promising.
In terms of traditional hydrocarbons, the head of Uzbekistan proposed studying the prospects for cooperation in the field of geological exploration and development of deposits on the Caspian shelf.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev identified another priority area as a radical increase in trade turnover and the scale of industrial cooperation. He stressed that in recent years, the volume of the trade between Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan has doubled. The ratio of industrial goods in the structure of trade turnover has reached 40%.
He proposed to jointly draft a Comprehensive Action Plan, which provides for the development of sustainable trade and logistics chains, the creation of wholesale distribution centers and access to large retail chains, the unification of phytosanitary and quarantine requirements, the implementing digital labeling of products, the launch of joint electronic platforms and the expansion of cooperation between commodity exchanges.
As part of the expansion of humanitarian contacts, he proposed adopting a trilateral program of tourism and cultural exchanges, which will increase the flow of tourists from our countries and third countries.
In conclusion, for the practical implementation of initiatives and agreements, the leader proposed to prepare a "road map", as well as to launch a mechanism for joint meetings of ministers in key areas.
Following the talks, the leaders adopted a joint statement. In their presence, memorandums of cooperation in the fields of transport and logistics, shipbuilding and civil aviation, an agreement on cooperation between commodity exchanges and others were also signed.
