The Embassy of Uzbekistan in Belgium together with the EURACTIV media portal hosted a virtual conference on “Cooperation of Central and South Asia: Why it is important in the region and beyond”.

The event, held within the framework of the High-Level International Conference “Central and South Asia: Regional Connectivity. Challenges and Opportunities” to be held on July 15-16 this year in Tashkent at the initiative of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, is organized to present the initiative of Uzbekistan to develop and strengthen cooperation between Central and South Asia in the political-diplomatic, expert-analytical, businesspeople and media of Europe.

According to the Center for Economic Research and Reforms, its Director O. Khakimov addressed the event, presented the results of the analysis conducted by the center.

The Head of the center focused on the opportunities for developing the trade potential that has not been realized between the countries of the region. In 2020, the trade turnover between the countries of the region amounted to $4.4 billion, or 3.2 percent of their total trade turnover. A significant share of the trade turnover of the Central Asian countries belongs to Kazakhstan (52.8 percent), Uzbekistan (31.2 percent) and Turkmenistan (10.4 percent).

The analysis of the Center for Economic Research and Reforms shows that there is an untapped potential for increasing the volume of exports of food products, in particular, grain, fruit and vegetable products, legumes and nuts.

In turn, the European side noted that the experience of the European Union in creating a mutual communication system and communications may be of particular interest to South and Central Asian countries.

Shakhnoza Mamaturopova, UzA