On October 23, the Transport Minister of Uzbekistan, Ilhom Makhkamov, received the Acting Assistant Undersecretary of Land Transport of Qatar, Hamad Issa Abdullah, the ministry said in a press release.

At the meeting, the parties discussed issues related to expanding cooperation in the transport sector. One of the topics of discussion was Qatar’s participation in the Trans-Afghan Railway project, which was presented to the guests by Uzbekistan Railways specialists.

The parties also considered partnership in civil aviation, including expanding the number of Doha-Tashkent-Doha flights. Hamad Issa Abdullah said that Qatar Airways plans to begin flights between the capitals of the two countries from March 2024.

Currently, Uzbekistan’s private air carrier Centrum Air operates regular flights between Tashkent and Doha once a week on Mondays.

Qatar Airways received permission to fly to Uzbekistan two years ago. Since then, the national airline of the emirate has announced several times the imminent start of flights to Uzbekistan.

In November 2021, it announced the launch of flights from January 17, 2022, but it was postponed indefinitely. The next time the topic was raised in a conversation between Makhkamov and the Ambassador of Qatar in Tashkent, Hassan bin Hamza Hashim, in June 2023.

Shortly before this, the President of Uzbekistan signed a decree introducing a visa-free regime for Qatari citizens. The emirate introduced a similar measure for Uzbek citizens in early October.