On January 11, Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a government meeting on measures for further development of the transport and logistics system.
Over the past seven years, thanks to the support of domestic carriers, the number of their fleet has increased 7 times and the number of cargo vehicles has reached 26,000. Their share in international transportation has grown from 35 to 60 percent.
However, the current geopolitical situation in the world creates challenges in this area. The time of cargo delivery in the western direction has doubled, and costs have increased by 1.5 times. Some checkpoints at the borders of European countries are closed, while others have long queues.
In this regard, the need for consistent development of the transport and logistics system and diversification of foreign trade routes was emphasized.
Measures will be taken to simplify and facilitate transit cargo transportation through countries located along alternative routes to international and regional markets, reduce or cancel on a reciprocal basis the fees levied at the border.
In Uzbekistan, the bulk of freight forwarding services are provided by foreign companies. In order to support domestic freight forwarders, value added tax will no longer be levied on their services in international transportation. It will help increase the share of local companies in this sector to 45-50 percent.
The task has been set to double the volume of international cargo transportation and increase export transportation services to $3 billion.
The responsible agencies have also been instructed to increase cargo flows from abroad by introducing an electronic queue system, reducing the time of border crossing to 20 minutes, as well as implementing online monitoring of vehicles.
