Over the past year, Tashkent has ramped up its engagement with Afghanistan, setting an ambitious target of almost tripling annual bilateral trade volume over the next few years. Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev also recently stated that the government was “actively working” with the Taliban leadership to create a trans-Afghan rail route to speed the flow of Uzbek goods to Pakistani seaports.

But according to Pakistani media reports, Tashkent and Islamabad have reached a provisional agreement to boost bilateral trade via routes that bypass Afghanistan and traverse China.

A trans-Afghan trade corridor would be the most efficient way for goods to move from Central Asia to Pakistan. Plans to develop the route, however, have been clouded by a deep freeze in Afghan-Pakistani relations, which has prompted Islamabad to close its main land border crossings, halting truck-borne trade.

Uzbekistan and Pakistan plan to sign a protocol that formalizes the expansion of trans-China trade soon, according to Pakistani sources. “The protocol is aimed at expanding transit options and ensuring uninterrupted movement of goods between the two countries despite evolving regional security challenges,” a Pakistan outlet, called Profit, quoted an unnamed official source as saying.

Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and China are presently constructing a railway that would link into China’s rail network, opening access to Pakistani ports. But that project is years away from completion. For the immediate future, any Uzbek-Pakistani protocol would likely cover truck-borne trade via China.

Uzbekistan is not the only Central Asian state interested in the trans-China option. Earlier this year, Kyrgyzstan successfully tested an overland route to Pakistan via China. And in early July, Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan announced an intention to forge a strategic partnership.