While China has been operating more than 1,000 XNUMX China-Europe Railway Express trains for 24 consecutive months, with some new routes being added, the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan (CKU) railway line, which has been under construction for more than two decades. finally found significant improvements. Once completed, the new route will also reduce the transit distance from China to Europe and the Middle East.
Construction of the CKU railway will begin next year, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Zhaparov told the Kabar Agency on Monday.“We will start in 2023 after the completion of this year’s survey, it is being prepared for a joint investigation with the three agencies, there will be jobs. Kyrgyzstan wanted to build the railway. Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of Uzbekistan, also said that construction of the CKU railway would begin soon. Mirziyoyev made the remarks at a conference of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council on Friday, according to media reports.
Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have signed a memorandum of understanding
Earlier, Uzbek officials stated that once completed, the railway would be the shortest route to transport goods from China to Europe and the Middle East, shorten 900 miles (900 km) and save seven to eight days during shipping. The CKU route, which will be the southern part of the freight train in China and Europe, will link China, Kyrgyzstan with Uzbekistan and Central and Eastern Europe via Iran and Turkey.According to the plan, the length of the CKU train can be 523 kilometers, including 213 kilometers in China, 260 kilometers in Kyrgyzstan and 50 kilometers in Uzbekistan. The railway is planned for at least 25 years. Since 1997, China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the construction of a railway linking the three countries.
“The development of the railway network is one of the priorities of the cabinet. In the fall, plans are under way to begin the construction of the largest project in the history of our independence – the CKU railway line. We need to support this project,” Akylbek said Japarov, Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan, on May 20, during a cabinet meeting, which approved the country’s 2022-2026 rail transport development guidelines.”All agreements, including all interested countries, have been finalized. We expect that at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in September, leaders of all three countries will sign a memorandum of understanding on how to build this railway. The Kyrgyz government, the Uzbek government and the Chinese government are preparing this document,” Japarov said.
Negotiations to build the railway are ongoing, said Jiang Yan, China’s ambassador to Uzbekistan, on May 19 during a video conference with local media.”We have to start building the railway for all three countries, we have to work together,” Jiang said. Back in February, Du Dewen, the Chinese Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, in an interview with Kabar Agency that the Chinese side’s position on the construction of the CKU railway was good, open and consistent.”The railway project was one of the key issues of the two countries’ summit in Beijing. Kyrgyzstan is paying close attention to this issue,” Du said.
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