Besides continued low rates, other factors set to influence 2024 are interest rates, environmental regulations and geopolitical uncertainty.

Since the beginning of the Russian-Ukraine conflict, the countries in Central Asia (CA) became acutely aware of the severe limitations related to their transportation routes. With heavy dependence on Moscow, CA countries decided to engage in diversification of their import- export channels. For Bishkek and Tashkent such attempts resulted in the renewed interest in advancing the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan (CKU) railway project.