The Ministry of Transport of Uzbekistan, the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Kyrgyzstan and the State Committee for Development and Reforms of China on September 14 in Samarkand signed a tripartite agreement on cooperation on the construction project of the Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan-China railway. The signing took place on the eve of the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the press service of the Ministry of Transport of Uzbekistan reported.
The agreement reportedly provides for the completion of all work on the development of a feasibility study for the construction of a railway in Kyrgyzstan in the first half of 2023. The parties also established the procedure for financing and distribution of costs in the development of the feasibility study of the project.
The project will help expand the geography of trade and transportation from China through Uzbekistan to Turkey and further to Europe, as well as to the states of the Persian Gulf, the report says.
The Ministry of Transport of Kyrgyzstan announced that the parties intend to distribute the costs of the feasibility study in equal shares, concluding a tripartite agreement on the financing of the feasibility study.
The project has been discussed for almost 20 years, with several route options considered.
