Kyrgyzstan plans to establish a logistics center near its border with China, with up to $100 million in investment to be attracted for the project. The center would help connect Chinese freight with routes through Uzbekistan and Afghanistan toward Pakistan, giving landlocked Kyrgyzstan another possible route to South Asian ports.
On September 10, Kyrgyzstan’s National Investment Agency and local company Textile Trans signed a memorandum on establishing the Sary-Tash international transport and logistics center. The project also includes plans for a textile manufacturing cluster.
Sary-Tash is located in the Alay Valley in southern Osh Region, around 70 kilometers from the Irkeshtam border crossing with China. It sits on the Osh-Sary-Tash-Irkeshtam road and at a junction with routes toward Tajikistan.
The planned center is intended to handle cargo moving along the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan-Afghanistan route, with possible onward access to Pakistan. It would include warehouse and transshipment facilities, along with customs services and a digital system for monitoring cargo.
The Osh-Sary-Tash-Irkeshtam corridor is also included in Kyrgyzstan’s draft Logistics Framework Map for 2026–2030, which was released for public consultation in August. The plan also covers the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, which is being built along a separate route through Torugart, Arpa, Makmal, and Jalal-Abad.
The Sary-Tash project comes as Bishkek looks for shorter trade routes to South Asia.
On September 2, during Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit, Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan signed a Transit Trade Agreement. The agreement is intended to make trade and transit between the two countries easier. Kyrgyzstan has identified the Pakistani ports of Karachi, Port Qasim, and Gwadar as possible gateways to international markets.
Trade between the two countries remains limited. During talks with Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, Sharif said the two sides wanted to raise annual bilateral trade from about $16 million to $200 million within two years.
Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan do not share a border. One possible route runs through Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, while another passes through China.
Bishkek tested the China route in April 2026. A truck traveled about 3,300 kilometers from Bishkek through the Torugart crossing into China, then continued via Kashgar and the Karakoram Highway before crossing the Khunjerab Pass into Pakistan and reaching Karachi.
That route bypasses Afghanistan and gives Kyrgyzstan direct road access to Pakistan’s seaports.
Sary-Tash lies on a different road toward China, near Irkeshtam. The planned logistics center would allow goods to be stored and transferred there before continuing along regional transport routes.
The announced $100 million is not secured financing. The memorandum says the project aims to attract investment of up to that amount. No construction timetable or opening date has been announced.
