Joint Fergana Zone Still a Plan on Kyrgyz Paper

FTZ News: Kyrgyzstan has put a name on a border park that would sit where its territory meets Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The file on the desk is a concept, dated May.

President Sadyr Japarov saw the master plan on May 6 in Batken, next to the Dostuk stele at the three-country junction. The Kyrgyz presidency released the visit. The Times of Central Asia and Kazinform wrote it up that week. The working title is the Dostuk International Trade and Economic Park. The map covers about 100 hectares and sketches administrative offices, logistics, production, shops and a tourist strip. Officials said more than 5,000 jobs if the ground is built out.

The stele itself followed a treaty signed in Khujand on March 31, 2025, by Japarov, Emomali Rahmon and Shavkat Mirziyoyev, fixing the point where the three borders meet. On March 13 the same year Bishkek and Dushanbe closed their own delimitation after the 2021 and 2022 clashes near Batken. Gates that had been locked since 2021 opened again. Kyrgyz-Tajik trade rose sharply in the first part of 2025. That settlement is why a joint park can even be drawn. It is not the same as opening one.

The May papers do not attach a free-zone law, a shared customs procedure or a company that would run the fence. Production is one box on the plan, listed with festivals. Navoi and Khorgos publish resident rules. Dostuk has not.

A separate meeting of Kyrgyz, Kazakh and Tajik border chiefs began Sept. 23 at Issyk-Kul. Uzbekistan is not in that group. The talks are about incidents on the line, not tenants on the 100 hectares.

Settlement through three central banks remains a headache for anyone moving cargo in the valley. The Dostuk slides do not name that as a statutory hurdle.

For now the joint zone exists as a Kyrgyz layout at a newly marked tripoint. A customs notice, a three-way operator or a first workshop would change the file. Those have not been published./.