Middle Corridor presents a valuable opportunity to tap into European markets

Relations between Uzbekistan and Serbia clearly reflect both sides’ commitment to mutual respect, consideration of national interests, and cooperation in international organizations.

In particular, in September 2025, the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić held productive talks on the sidelines of the SCO event in Beijing.

At the same time, the Serbian President’s official visit to Uzbekistan from October 28-30 last year created new opportunities to expand political, economic, and humanitarian cooperation between the two countries.

The current visit has elevated the developing cooperation to a strategic partnership. Following the talks, the Heads of State signed a Joint Declaration on establishing a strategic partnership. As a result, the two countries laid the foundation for long-term, systematic, and multifaceted cooperation based on high-level political agreement and mutual trust.

In addition, more than twenty bilateral documents were signed, including agreements and documents on labor mobility and migration, international road transport of passengers and goods, interregional cooperation, cooperation in agriculture, water management, and sustainable rural development, cooperation and mutual assistance in customs matters, the establishment of a working group to launch negotiations on a free trade agreement, cooperation in renewable energy and green technologies, and cooperation to support the Middle Corridor. These documents demonstrate the broad scope of cooperation between the two countries.

Trade and economic cooperation, as well as the development of transport corridors, are of particular importance in interstate relations. As a country on the Balkan Peninsula, Serbia has historically held a geostrategically and geoeconomically important position, linking Europe with the Middle East and Eurasia and serving as a crossroads of regional transport corridors. Therefore, developing the Central Asia – Balkans transport corridor via the Trans-Caspian route will expand opportunities for both sides.

In particular, the Middle Corridor’s economic importance to Uzbekistan has grown in recent years. This route is increasingly effective for delivering national products to global markets. To this end, it is essential to jointly develop rail and road infrastructure, establish logistics chains linked to the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea, and Danube ports, simplify customs procedures, and develop unified tariff mechanisms for multimodal transportation.

There is no doubt that the official visit of the President of Uzbekistan to the Republic of Serbia will help bring friendship and cooperation between the two countries to a new level.

Khushvaqt Khayitov,

Deputy of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis,

Member of the UzLiDeP faction