President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, speaking on 8 October at the 8th Consultative Meeting of the Heads of State of Central Asia and Azerbaijan in Avaza, proposed holding the first Central Asia–Azerbaijan business forum in 2027.
"In practice, we can build a single space of cooperation that has historical, economic and transport ties. Today there is an opportunity to make it much stronger and fill it with concrete content. This is about a large 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 on improving the legal and regulatory framework governing the activities of the consultative meetings of the heads of state of Central Asia and Azerbaijan.
"At the same time, the number of documents alone does not solve anything. It is far more important that decisions already adopted are implemented and deliver the result for which we adopt them," he said.
The President of Uzbekistan believes that economic cooperation must reach a new level.
"We have already set serious goals for the growth of mutual trade and investment. Now we need to determine what will ensure this growth. First of all, this concerns joint industrial and technological chains, common digital services, and investment mechanisms that will make it possible to launch major projects faster. An important role here is assigned to the comprehensive regional programme of trade and economic interaction until 2035. It must become a working tool that helps us use the region's main advantage — our common geography. To this end, it is necessary to consistently remove trade barriers, expand industrial cooperation, and launch large joint projects. We have already reached the point where ordinary trade with each other is not enough. We need to create the final product together. The formula 'six economies — one product' conveys well the meaning of what we should strive for. When enterprises from several countries participate in a single production chain, when products are created together, entirely different ties emerge between our economies. They are much stronger than ordinary exchange of goods. To develop this work, we propose holding the first Central Asia–Azerbaijan business forum in 2027. At the same time, I consider it important to create a special platform for financial and technical support of joint investment projects. Big ideas often require not only investment but also serious preparation, expertise, clear financial instruments and support. We propose instructing the Council of Ministers of Trade and Investment to consider this issue in detail at its next meeting in Ashgabat," he said.
Mirziyoyev further stated that 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 centre of economic activity. But for this it is not enough simply to build roads and railway lines. We need a common logic for the development of transport infrastructure. Major projects must be coordinated with each other so that routes continue each other and work as a single system. Along new transport corridors, production facilities, logistics service facilities and industrial zones should emerge. Then the transport route will create economies around itself and bring a much greater effect to each state through which it passes," he said.