Pakistan stands to gain significantly from CKU railway, Middle Corridor and CPEC integration, says Aibek Tilebaliev
ZUBAIR QURESHI
ISLAMABAD: The expansion of the Central Asian consultative mechanism to include Azerbaijan as a full participant has opened the way for the emergence of a powerful economic and strategic bloc linking China, Central Asia, the Caspian region and Europe.
Speaking at a briefing at the Embassy of Kyrgyz Republic on Monday, Charge d’Affaires Aibek Tilebaliev said the July 31 informal Consultative Meeting of the Heads of State of Central Asia and Azerbaijan, held at Cholpon-Ata on the shores of Issyk-Kul Lake, marked a “historic turning point” in regional geopolitics.
He said the participation of Azerbaijan as a full member had transformed the five-country Central Asian platform into a broader mechanism connecting the region with the Caspian Sea and South Caucasus.
Tilebaliev said the consultative meetings, launched in 2018 among Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, were originally aimed at promoting regional cooperation, peace and stability. The latest meeting, he added, reflected a new level of mutual trust and regional integration.
He particularly highlighted the settlement of Kyrgyzstan’s long-standing border issues with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, saying the agreements had transformed borders from potential barriers into “bridges of friendship and gateways for trade.”
The diplomat said the region, with a combined population of around 85 million and a gross regional product exceeding $600 billion, possessed considerable fossil fuel, critical mineral and agricultural resources and occupied a strategically important position between Europe and Asia.
He said Central Asian countries had also developed “C5+1” dialogue mechanisms with major global partners including China, Russia, the United States, European Union, Japan, South Korea and Italy.
Kyrgyzstan thanks Pakistan for UN support
Tilebaliev expressed particular gratitude to Pakistan for supporting Kyrgyzstan’s successful bid for a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council for the 2027-28 term.
“Kyrgyzstan intends to consistently promote the shared interests of Central Asia” during its tenure, he said.
He identified strengthening trust among UN member states, improving peacebuilding operations, advancing disarmament and non-proliferation, and advocating for the interests of least developed, landlocked developing and small island developing states as among Kyrgyzstan’s priorities.
He said his country would also focus on conflict mediation, protection of women and children in conflict zones, food and energy security, sustainable development in the Global South, stability and regional integration of Afghanistan, multilateralism and reform of the UN Security Council.
CKU railway, Kambarata-1 key projects
The Kyrgyz diplomat said transport connectivity and energy cooperation were central outcomes of the Cholpon-Ata meeting.
He highlighted the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan (CKU) railway and the Kambarata-1 hydropower project as major initiatives that could reshape regional connectivity and economic cooperation.
According to him, more than 17 per cent of construction work on the CKU railway has already been completed, with over 10,000 workers and 7,000 pieces of specialised equipment engaged in the project.
The 532-kilometre railway will connect Kashgar in China with Torugart, Makmal and Jalal-Abad in Kyrgyzstan before reaching Andijan in Uzbekistan. The project involves construction of major bridges and tunnels and is expected to substantially reduce transit times between China and Europe.
Tilebaliev said the railway, together with the Middle Corridor and CPEC, could eventually form a multimodal Eurasian transport network, reducing transit times, facilitating trade and attracting investment.
He said Pakistan, situated at the crossroads of South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East, could derive “significant dividends” from the emerging trans-Caspian connectivity.
The diplomat also highlighted the Kambarata-1 hydropower project, being developed jointly by Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The project is envisaged to have a generation capacity of 1,860 megawatts and produce around 5.6 billion kilowatt-hours annually. Kyrgyzstan holds a 34 per cent stake, while Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan each hold 33 per cent.
The project is estimated to cost around $6 billion and is expected to take approximately six and a half years to complete.
Unified tourist visa proposed
Tilebaliev said Kyrgyzstan had also proposed introducing a unified tourist visa for foreign visitors travelling across Central Asian states, aimed at unlocking the region’s vast tourism potential.
He said the heads of state concluded the Cholpon-Ata meeting by signing the Cholpon-Ata Declaration and expressed full readiness to contribute to the successful hosting of the next consultative meeting in Turkmenistan on October 8.
The summit was accompanied by important bilateral developments. Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan signed a Treaty on Allied Relations, while similar arrangements were reached between Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan, elevating ties to the highest level of strategic cooperation.
Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan also signed 11 joint documents, while the two presidents exchanged their countries’ highest state honours.
Tilebaliev said the developments demonstrated that Kyrgyzstan was simultaneously deepening cooperation with its immediate neighbours and expanding its economic and strategic outreach towards the Caspian Sea and South Caucasus.
He said the emerging regional architecture should go beyond transit and raw-material exports by encouraging joint investment in manufacturing, energy, processing industries, ports, pipelines and special economic zones.
“Rather than serving as mere transit corridors, our nations should co-invest in localized value-added industries,” he said, stressing that regional cooperation could help transform resource exporters into producers of high-value goods.
He added that the process was also reinforcing centuries-old cultural and linguistic links among the peoples of the wider region while creating new opportunities for economic cooperation.
The Kyrgyz official said the Cholpon-Ata meeting had therefore laid the foundations for a more integrated regional economic space stretching from the western borders of China towards Europe, with Pakistan potentially emerging as an important partner and beneficiary of the new connectivity architecture.
