Nargiza Umarova’s policy brief for Caspian Policy Center explores how Uzbekistan is emerging as one of the key drivers of a new transport and connectivity landscape in Central Asia. Focusing on the expansion of freight transportation across the Caspian Sea and the growing strategic use of Turkmenistan’s railway and port infrastructure, the brief demonstrates how Tashkent is steadily strengthening its role in east-west transit.
It outlines the practical significance of recent infrastructure and institutional developments, including the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, the evolution of the CASCA+ corridor, and new mechanisms for coordinating railway administrations across the region. Through these initiatives, Uzbekistan is not only diversifying its foreign trade routes, but also contributing to the formation of a more resilient and interconnected regional transport architecture.
The brief also places these developments within a broader geopolitical and economic context, showing how Uzbekistan’s transport policy is linked to regional integration, access to European and global markets, and the search for alternatives amid geopolitical instability. Particular attention is devoted to the growing importance of cooperation with Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, the South Caucasus, and Türkiye, as well as to the strategic relevance of the Middle Corridor for the future of Central Asia’s external trade.
By examining both the opportunities and the constraints surrounding new logistics chains, the brief argues that Uzbekistan is helping shape a new reality in the geopolitics of transport corridors – one in which Central Asian states are becoming more active participants in regional and transcontinental connectivity rather than remaining peripheral transit spaces.
