The Tbilisi Silk Road Forum took place held in the capital of Georgia on October 26-27, which was attended by about 2,000 delegates from almost 63 countries, including Uzbekistan, the Ministry of Transport said.
Uzbekistan was represented by the Minister of Transport Ilkhom Makhkamov. He made remarks at the panel session: The Middle Corridor in The Spotlight.
The Middle Corridor is also called the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor. It connects the countries of Asia through the Caspian Sea with the countries of Europe and runs, in particular, through China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. This route is an alternative to land routes passing through the territory of Russia, Belarus and Poland.
Ilkhom Makhkamov put forward a number of proposals to deepen beneficial partnership ties with the participating countries of the Middle Corridor. In particular, the Minister of Transport pointed to the need:
- joint development of a mechanism for tapping the potential of the corridor, organizing regular meetings of officials of transport departments of the countries of the region and the European Union;
- building the capacity of the infrastructure, as well as the number of sea vessels in the Caspian Sea;
- application of a flexible tariff policy along the entire route;
- accelerating the process of digitalization of customs clearance procedures for goods and shipping documents.
In general, the forum participants discussed global economic problems, ways to solve them and prospects for cooperation in ensuring interconnectedness between states.
The Tbilisi Silk Road Forum, founded in 2015 by Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, took place in Georgia for the fourth time. This time it focused on trade facilitation, development of e-commerce, digital communications, transport infrastructure and energy.
