The International Institute for Central Asia hosted a roundtable discussion on “Central Asia: global processes and sustainable development of the region” with the participation of foreign and national experts.

In recent years, the Central Asian region, thanks to the political will of the leaders of the fraternal countries, is rapidly changing, gaining stability, unity, and international subjectivity.

The decisive factor that triggered the process of building up cooperation in Central Asia was the new foreign policy course of Tashkent, initiated by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

Implementing the new regional policy made it possible to remove the most controversial issues, which created the conditions for the transformation of the region into a single trade, investment, transport, and communication platform.

Today, stable Central Asia is already becoming one of the essential centers of investment activity and economic growth. According to EDB estimates, over the past 2 decades, the total GDP has nominally increased by more than 8 times, and in real terms by 4 times, to $397 billion.

Deputy Director of the IMEMO RAS Sergey Afontsev emphasized that the observed trends in increasing the stability of Central Asia are “the best foundation for the future development and implementation of regional and international initiatives.

Director of the IACIR D. Kurbanov said that the process of mutual rapprochement in Central Asia is of particular value, in the promotion of which the regional policy and the initiatives of the President of Uzbekistan to strengthen political confidence played a key role.

A significant result of these joint efforts was the strengthening of the international and investment attractiveness of the region and the expansion of interaction between the Central Asian states and the leading countries of the world both on a bilateral basis and in the “Central Asia Plus” format.

Acting Director of IICA F. Kadirov noted that Tashkent's new foreign policy course, initiated by the country's Leader, actually reset relations within the region.

Borders have opened, trade has normalized, and all neighboring countries have begun to receive significant economic benefits from closer cooperation. The trade turnover of Uzbekistan with the states of Central Asia has increased 3 times since 2016.

According to the Head of the Department of Science and Innovation at RAS IMEMO Ivan Danilin, “In recent years, Uzbekistan has transformed into a regional leader in technology development, which can be evidenced by IT Park and the Uzbek-Korean textile technopark in Tashkent”.

At the event, specific proposals were also developed on the current international and regional cooperation agenda.

G.Khonnazarov, UzA