BISHKEK -- Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev says his country, Kyrgyzstan, and China plan to start construction of a new railway line connecting the three Asian nations.
Speaking at the online economic forum of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEC) on May 27, Mirziyoev said the project will "open new opportunities for transport corridors linking our region with markets in the Pacific Ocean area. The move will add to the widening of existing railway routes connecting East with West."
The EEC consists of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia. Its economic forum is being chaired by Kyrgyzstan this year.
Last week, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Akylbek Japarov said the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway line will start being built this autumn, calling it "the largest project in Kyrgyzstan's history."
Chinese Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Du Dewen said earlier that the railway project had been on the agenda of talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov when they met in Beijing in early February.