China made a proposal on Central Asia

Within the framework of the summit of the heads of state of Central Asia and China, the main initiative turned to be the proposal of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to make the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project the flagship project of the One Belt, One Road.

Various types of projects have been discussed by the parties for almost 20 years, but the parties have not yet launched implementation of the railway route being alternative to the one between Kazakhstan and Russia. De facto, this is the most important project in the One Belt, One Road system.

The project provides for the development on the territory of Central Asia of railway tracks of European and Chinese gauge (different from the Russian one), so that the goods transit can be performed with no waste of time related to the gauge change. The railway has a potential capability of connecting China with Iran and getting freight traffic to Turkey (European gauge) and Europe, which is much more efficient and faster than supplies via the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Another possible option is to bring transport routes through Uzbekistan to Afghan Herat and then back to Iran.

For the purpose of effective implementation of this project, the parties might need to consider the possibility of involving Kazakhstan, Russia and Iran to its implementation, since changes in transport geopolitics in the region introduces a significantly change in the balance of the parties.

Source: israil-95reg.livejournal.com