Uzbekistan Proposes First Central Asia-Azerbaijan Business Forum For 2027

(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) TURKMENBASHI, Turkmenistan, October 8. Uzbekistan has proposed holding the first Central Asia-Azerbaijan business forum in 2027, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said on Oct. 8 at the eighth Consultative Meeting of the Heads of State of Central Asia and Azerbaijan in Avaza, Turkmenistan, Trend 's special correspondent reports.

“We can practically build a common space for cooperation based on historical, economic and transport ties. Today, we have an opportunity to make these ties much stronger and fill them with concrete substance. This is a vast space where our countries can jointly develop trade, transport, energy, industry and new technologies. We need to strengthen the foundations on which our regional dialogue is built,” he said.

Mirziyoyev proposed continuing work to improve the legal framework governing the Consultative Meetings of the Heads of State of Central Asia and Azerbaijan.

“At the same time, the number of documents in itself does not solve anything. It is much more important that the decisions already adopted are implemented and deliver the results for which they were made,” he said.

The Uzbek president said economic cooperation should be raised to a new level.

“We have already set ambitious goals for increasing mutual trade and investment. Now we need to determine what will drive this growth. First and foremost, this means joint industrial and technological value chains, shared digital services and investment mechanisms that will allow major projects to be launched more quickly. An important role here should be played by a comprehensive regional program for trade and economic cooperation through 2035. It should become a practical tool to help us use the region's main advantage - our common geography. To achieve this, we need to consistently remove trade barriers, expand industrial cooperation and launch major joint projects. We have reached a point where ordinary trade with one another is no longer enough. We need to create finished products together. The formula 'six economies - one product' captures well what we should strive for. When companies from several countries participate in a single production chain and jointly create products, entirely different ties emerge between our economies. They are much stronger than ordinary trade in goods. To advance this work, we propose holding the first Central Asia-Azerbaijan business forum in 2027. At the same time, I consider it important to establish a dedicated platform for financial and technical support for joint investment projects. Major ideas often require not only investment, but also substantial preparation, expertise, clear financial instruments and support. We propose tasking the Council of Ministers of Trade and Investment with examining this issue in detail at its next meeting in Ashgabat,” he said.

Mirziyoyev also said the countries of the region need to be connected by a modern transport and logistics network.

“We can become one of the key land routes of global trade and, at the same time, a major center of economic activity. But simply building roads and railways is not enough. We need a common approach to developing transport infrastructure.

Major projects need to be coordinated so that routes connect and operate as a single system. Production facilities, logistics services and industrial zones should emerge along new transport corridors. This would allow transport routes to generate economic activity around them and deliver much greater benefits to every country through which they pass,” he said.

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