Central Asian nations are easing barriers, addressing a prerequisite for the formation of a unified regional market.  

The creation of a unified Central Asian market enabling the seamless movement of goods and services is a central aim of the B5+1 process, a regional economic blueprint supported by the United States.  That plan, launched in March, calls on the five Central Asian nations – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – to take the lead in fostering regional free trade and the diversification of export routes.

B5+1 is the business counterpart to C5+1, the diplomatic platform for Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) and the United States.  Following its first-ever Forum, the group is emphasizing five priority industries that are needed to accelerate regional integration and economic development in Central Asia: 1) trade and logistics; 2) agribusiness; 3) e-commerce; 4) tourism; and 5) renewable energy.  

Eurasianet reports that given the flurry of diplomatic activity in mid-April, Central Asian leaders seem intent on exploring the B5+1’s potential.  The rationale underpinning the B5+1 holds that a Central Asia with simplified customs procedures, along with effective mechanisms to protect property rights and resolve commercial disputes, will be able to attract more Western trade and investment.  That, in turn, will make the Middle Corridor trade route the most lucrative option for regional governments and business.

On April 18, a meeting between Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and his Uzbek counterpart Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Dushanbe yielded 28 cooperation agreements covering a variety of political, economic and social areas.  Two agreements reportedly aim to specifically facilitate Tajik-Uzbek trade, one to streamline customs procedures at road, rail and air border checkpoints, and another covering “industrial property” rights.

The two countries are working together to create a free trade zone at the Oybek-Fotehobod border crossing point (BCP), as well as construct a logistics hub at Andarkhan, in the Ferghana Valley. In addition, the two countries were preparing to eliminate the need for filling out time-consuming permit forms at Tajik-Uzbek border points for freight-carrying trucks transiting through the two countries.

In 2023, a two-way trade between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan valued US$505 million, but officials aim to increase annual bilateral trade between them to US$2 billion in the coming years.

According to Eurasianet, the same figure – US$2 billion – was the bilateral turnover target mentioned by Kazakhstan’s President, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, after he signed a series of bilateral agreements with Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov on April 19. Two of those agreements concerned measures to ease cross-border movement.  At a news conference following the signing ceremony, Tokayev said a major bilateral goal is boosting the exchange of manufactured goods.

Trade statistics indicate that interstate truck-borne freight traffic increased in Central Asia in early 2024.

All the movement in Central Asia toward facilitating trade seems to be unsettling to Moscow, which worries that freer trade in Central Asia will facilitate the expansion of commercial networks bypassing Russia.  

Some Russian experts described talk of regional economic integration as premature, pointing out that no multilateral trade discussions have made progress on forming a common market.  

However, bilateral agreements make it easier for Central Asia’s nations to find common ground. The communique issued at the end of the B5+1 conference in Almaty, Kazakhstan noted that “trade and transit costs are 60 percent higher in land-locked Central Asia than in countries with connection to the sea,” going on to note that “participants agreed that [trade] costs can be reduced by addressing non-geographical barriers that impede the flow of goods and people across borders.”