Uzbekistan and Turkey have agreed to launch regular container trains on the Uzbekistan – Turkmenistan – Iran – Turkey route. The agreement was reached at the fourth meeting of the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council in Ankara, chaired by Presidents Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The new railway route will become a key link in the logistics chain connecting the countries of Central Asia with European markets. It will make it possible to accelerate export shipments, reduce logistics costs, and make delivery times more predictable. According to forecasts, delivery along the route will take almost half the time compared with sea transport through the Suez Canal.
The project is part of initiatives to revive the Silk Road. The institutional foundation of the route was the protocol of a multilateral meeting of the transport authorities of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, and Turkey, signed on November 3, 2023, which provided the legal and organizational basis for implementing the project.