The first meeting of the heads of railway administrations of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
In June 2018, a meeting of the heads of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Qingdao was held in China, where at the initiative of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, an agreement was reached to hold the first meeting of the heads of railway administrations in Tashkent. In this regard, today, September 19, the heads of the SCO railway administrations met.
It is noteworthy that the Republic of Uzbekistan chairs the first international event. First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Chairman of the JSC «O’zbekistan Temir Yo’llari» Achilbay Ramatov attended the event.
Since ancient times Uzbekistan occupies a strategic position in the Central Asian region, the Great Silk Road passed through its territory, today it has been replaced by important transport routes connecting the North and South of the Euro-Asian continent. In June 2018, in Qingdao, during the meeting of the Council of heads of state of the Shanghai cooperation organization, an agreement was reached to hold the first meeting in Tashkent, which is symbolic. It will be held on the initiative and under the chairmanship of the Uzbek side.
The dynamically developing economy of the countries united in the SCO, requires the advanced development of the transport and communication complex of the States. Railway transport plays a key role in the exchange of goods between States, especially for countries that do not have direct access to sea routes and relying mainly on land transport of goods. This increases its importance and relevance.
The first meeting of the heads of the railway administrations of the SCO member States will help to expand the markets of transport services, increase efficiency and create potential opportunities for the railway industry, exchange views on customs clearance and tariff policy in the industry, including the study of prospects for the creation of new cost-effective international corridors in the SCO, thereby providing an opportunity to access to sea ports. During the meeting, it is planned to discuss the necessary conditions for improving the competitiveness of railway transport in the SCO region – the creation and widespread use of a network of logistics centers, in turn, engaged in the transportation of export and import goods of the SCO member States to world markets and improve the services provided in the transportation process. The heads will consider the issues of support in the implementation of infrastructure projects for the construction of new railway lines, related infrastructure in the SCO member States, designed to promote the opening of new directions that increase the competitiveness of transport corridors (routes) in the region. During the meeting, the issues of expediency of practical cooperation with international financial institutions and other relevant regional structures to attract financial resources for the implementation of joint projects that increase the capacity of railway transport corridors, in the main, providing access to the sea gate will be analyzed. In particular, the participants will briefly get acquainted with the state of development of the railway industry, promising directions and trends of its development, improvement.
In Uzbekistan, large-scale reforms are being carried out under the leadership of our Republic to ensure sustainable development and improve the welfare of the people of Uzbekistan. An important condition for improving the competitiveness of transport systems of the SCO member States is the widespread use of a network of logistics and multimodal centers.
The total length of railway routs of the company is more than 7000 km. In the volume of freight turnover of all types of transport, the share of the railway is 52%. During the years of formation of the country, the JSC "O’zbekistan Temir Yo’llari" built more than 2500 km, electrified more than 2,600 km. of railway sections, and also built and reconstructed more than 30 stations.
The realized investment projects are of strategic importance for the country's economy. Among them - the new railway lines Navoi – Uchkuduk – Sultanuizdag – Nukus with length of 341 km, Toshguzar – Boysun – Kumkurgan – 223 km. high-Speed passenger trains today run from Tashkent to museums in the cities of Bukhara, Samarkand, Karshi and Shakhrisabz. The total length of the routes for high-speed passenger trains is 723 km. A grandiose and complex project for the construction of an electrified railway line Angren – PAP, with a length of 123.2 km, as well as with the participation of the Chinese company “China Railway Tunnel Group” has been implemented the only railway tunnel in Central Asia.
For the complex solution of the issues of increasing the volume of international cargo transportation and attracting transit traffic through the territory of the country, active work has been started to improve the quality of services provided by transport and logistics companies of the republic.
Within the framework of cooperation with Chinese and Russian partners were purchased 44 freight electric locomotives, 15 units of high-speed passenger electric locomotives and 10 units of passenger diesel locomotives.
In 2018, a contract was signed with the Novocherkassk Electric Locomotive Plant for the purchase of two units of trunk tri-sectional 12-axle electric locomotives.
This year JSC "O’zbekistan Temir Yo’llari" has provided various benefits and preferences for the transportation of certain types of goods on its territory to countries such as Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Russian Federation. In turn, the Kazakh, Turkmen, Russian, Ukrainian, Georgian, Iranian partners provided preferences for the transportation of goods from Uzbekistan, thereby creating the prerequisites for increasing cargo traffic and strengthening good-neighborly relations among the countries.
At the end of the meeting, the Protocol of the First Meeting of the Heads of Railway Administrations of the SCO Member States will sign. This document is intended to serve the further formation of favorable conditions for the development of transport infrastructure, construction of roads and the creation of transport and logistics centers.
For reference:
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was established in 2001. The founding states are Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The decision to establish the SCO was taken following the successful negotiations on the Agreement on confidence-building in the military field in the border area and the Agreement on the mutual reduction of armed forces in the border area among Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, on the one hand, and China, on the other hand, respectively, in 1996 and 1997. Later Uzbekistan joined them. Currently, the SCO observer States are Mongolia (since 2004), India, Iran, Pakistan (since 2005) and Afghanistan (since 2012). Applications for observer status were submitted in 2012 by Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
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