Uzbekistan and the Middle East are united by geographical proximity, common historical, cultural and spiritual values.

In recent years, Uzbekistan has been intensifying and enhancing cooperation with many Arab states. Among them, the United Arab Emirates stands out, which is considered one of the key partners of Uzbekistan in the region.

The traditionally high level of political trust between the countries and the friendly nature of relations laid a solid foundation for establishing mutually beneficial cooperation even at the time Uzbekistan gained independence. In October 2022, the countries celebrated the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.

Today, relations between Tashkent and Abu Dhabi, based on the principles of trust and mutual consideration of interests, are further developing. They have gained the greatest dynamics of development since 2017. Since that time, the partnership between Uzbekistan and the UAE has risen to a qualitatively new level. In many ways, this is facilitated by the intensity of political contacts at various levels.

President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev visited the United Arab Emirates twice in March 2019 and May 2022. The leaders of the two states hold bilateral meetings as part of visits to multilateral forums and constantly maintain a bilateral dialogue by telephone. Inter-parliamentary interaction has been established. Meetings of the intergovernmental commission on cooperation, political consultations between the foreign ministries of the two countries are being held.

At present, thanks to the implementation of a far-sighted foreign policy, large-scale reforms in the economy and the social sphere, the UAE has become associated not only with a country with large reserves of energy resources, but also with a rapidly developing modern tourism, transport, logistics and manufacturing hub in the Middle East. Abu Dhabi has achieved excellent results in diversifying its economy and reducing its dependence on oil.

The country’s nominal GDP in 2021 was over $409 billion. As of 2022, the UAE is ranked 1st in the Global Entrepreneurship Index. Dubai and Abu Dhabi are recognized as leading cities for global business due to investments in the development of the system of governance and economic well-being.

In the Doing Business Global Competitiveness Index, the country ranks 1st in the region and 11th among 190 economies worldwide.

In 2021, the UAE authorities announced a long-term development plan for the country until 2071, which provides for a transition to a more flexible form of public administration, stimulating the development of the social sphere, launching projects that increase the competitiveness of vital sectors of the economy, and strengthening the state’s position in the international arena.

It is planned to create more efficient and integrated models for the work of the government and ministries at the federal level to timely implement the long-term development strategy.

According to experts, to achieve the goals of the new development strategy for the next period, the UAE has economic, scientific, educational and technological resources. This is due to the following factors.

First, the active and systematic work of the government to diversify the national economy. Today, more than 70% of the UAE Federal Government’s revenue comes from non-oil industries, which is the first sign of the success of the strategy in this direction.

According to the IMF rating, the UAE economy is the most competitive in the Arab world. The country was highly rated for the effectiveness of government, business and infrastructure development. At the same time, the Emirati authorities plan to double the volume of the national economy by 2030 – from 1.5 to 3 trillion dirhams (from 409 to 822 billion dollars).

Second, investing in human development and education. The UAE ranks 1st in the Arab world and the Gulf region in the UNDP Human Development Index, which is a composite measure of long-term progress on 3 main dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge, a decent standard of living.

The Emirates is committed to developing a scientific environment. Dozens of universities operate in the country, including branches of more than 30 foreign educational centers. Special “knowledge villages” and academic campuses are being created, free zones for the development of human resources, where universities and science centers are concentrated with the possibility of 100% participation of foreign capital.

Third, the transformation of the digitalization strategy into one of the promising areas of public policy.

First of all, the UAE government is committed to a full-fledged paperless government.

Abu Dhabi manages to attract huge investments in the development of ICT, successful startups. Almost all major IT companies have offices in the UAE. The country ranked highest among Arab countries in the ranking of the Swiss research company StartupBlink.

Factors that have been paramount to the success of startups include location and ecosystem for entrepreneurship development, improved quality of life and application of innovation, and attraction of talent.

At the same time, the UAE authorities also approved a strategy for the development of the digital economy, which provides for doubling its contribution to GDP from 9.7% to 19.4% over the next 10 years. This will allow them to remain at the forefront among the countries of the Middle East and North Africa.

For Uzbekistan, close interaction with a country with such achievements opens up broad political and economic opportunities in many areas, creates favorable conditions for the consistent expansion of foreign policy and foreign economic relations of Tashkent, especially with the Arab-Muslim world.

Taking into account that the UAE has wide investment opportunities, experience in the effective implementation of advanced technologies, the implementation of large-scale investment projects that have ensured the formation of a diversified and sustainable economy, cooperation between Uzbekistan and UAE is already developing in many key areas.

So, if we consider the development of the trade and economic sphere, then for the period from January to September this year, the volume of mutual trade increased by 40% compared to last year and amounted to $227.1 million. Of these, in January-September, exports amounted to $13.5 million, imports – $213.6 million.

There are 185 enterprises (104 foreign and 81 joint ventures) operating in the country with the participation of the UAE capital, of which 45 were created this year.

There are high dynamics of increasing the volume of the UAE investments attracted to the economy of Uzbekistan. The Masdar company commissioned the first solar power plant in our country in 2021 and is currently the winner of tenders for the construction of three new solar photovoltaic power plants: the Sherabad PPP with a capacity of 457 MW, the Samarkand PPP with a capacity of 220 MW, and the Jizzakh PPP with a capacity of 220 MW. The total portfolio of Masdar projects in Uzbekistan currently amounts to more than $2 billion, the total generating capacity of power plants under construction is 2.5 GW.

In partnership with Mubadala, a project is underway to expand the capacity of the Talimarjan thermal power plant.

The issues of developing the activities of the multimodal hub and the Navoi economic zone, as well as modernizing the customs administration system are being worked out with the leading company DP World.

In addition, several major projects are being implemented in agriculture, healthcare, logistics, digitalization and other areas.

The Uzbekistan – UAE Investment Company, established with the support of the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, is successfully operating. Since its inception, it has raised about $100 million to implement joint investment projects in the country. Support programs for small and medium-sized businesses, projects in education are being implemented.

The company is currently working on a portfolio of 17 promising investment projects totaling about $400 million in healthcare, pharmaceuticals, logistics, tourism, agriculture and the food industry.

Direct interaction has been established between the Ministry of Food and Water Security of the UAE and the Ministry of Agriculture of Uzbekistan to explore the possibilities of implementing joint programs and projects in agriculture and the food industry.

An agreement is being implemented with the UAE government on large-scale cooperation in improving the efficiency of public administration, developing long-term development strategies, introducing innovations in the activities of government bodies, improving the quality of education and training personnel with modern, in-demand specialties, and developing tourism and logistics infrastructure.

In improving the efficiency of public administration and implementing the relevant roadmaps in 25 areas, 147 joint events have been held over the past 3 years, as a result of which more than 2,000 civil servants of Uzbekistan have been trained as part of specialized trainings with a total duration of 34,000 hours.

This year, the parties agreed to extend the aforementioned framework agreement for three years. Interaction in innovation and artificial intelligence, deepening the dialogue on reforming key industries and further improving public administration, training modern personnel was identified as new areas of partnership.

Also launched in Uzbekistan in 2019, the “One Million Uzbek Coders” project has already covered more than 70,000 people, many of whom have received appropriate qualification certificates. This project is one of the key initiatives within the framework of bilateral cooperation to stimulate the development of information and communication technologies in Uzbekistan. Its implementation simultaneously allows solving the issues of qualification and employment of young people.

Thus, very favorable conditions have been created in recent years, enabling Tashkent and Abu Dhabi to bring bilateral relations to the level of strategic partnership. This may be facilitated by such moments as:

– carrying out in the countries of large-scale programs for the transformation of socio-economic development. So, today Uzbekistan, under the leadership of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, has moved to a new stage of reforms based on the principle “from an action strategy to a development strategy”. In this regard, the Development Strategy of New Uzbekistan for 2022-2026 was adopted, which includes areas of work to further modernize the economy, strengthen its competitiveness, attract foreign investment and progressively improve the welfare of the population.

In turn, the UAE has launched a long-term development program aimed at diversifying economic ties, attracting additional foreign investment, developing new markets, developing the country’s scientific, technological, production and export potential.

– implementation in Central Asia of large trans-regional transport and communication projects, which open up great prospects for the development of trade and economic cooperation. In this regard, the construction of the Trans-Afghan Transport Corridor and the China – Kyrgyzstan – Uzbekistan railway is the most important.

Such a prospect, together with the plans of the Uzbek side to join the World Trade Organization in the future, will significantly intensify the dynamics of trade and economic exchanges between the two states.

– accelerated introduction of digital technologies in the economy. New Uzbekistan is rapidly moving towards the digitalization of the economy. The strategy “Digital Uzbekistan-2030” has been developed and is being implemented, within the framework of which it is planned to double the share of the digital economy in the country’s GDP by 2023.

Such plans of our country make the UAE a natural partner in this area. The UAE is already among the states that are ahead of most countries in the world in implementing the principles of the digital economy.

– the focus of states as a priority to develop the tourism industry. Both countries have the highest potential for cooperation in tourism. Thanks to its developed infrastructure and high level of service, the UAE is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. In terms of the volume of outbound tourist trips, the number of which is about 3.5 million people annually, the country occupies one of the leading places in the region.

Uzbekistan, which has a rich cultural and historical heritage, favorable climatic conditions and internal stability, is a promising tourist destination for the population of the UAE, primarily due to the opportunity to make “ziyorat tourism” in the country. An increase in the flow of tourists from the UAE and other Gulf countries will be facilitated by the decision to abolish entry visas for citizens of these countries to Uzbekistan.

In this regard, it can be noted with confidence that Tashkent and Abu Dhabi are long-term partners whose interests coincide in most areas of interaction. The parties shall implement national development strategies of a complementary nature. There is a high level of bilateral relations, including regular high-level dialogue.

All this, against the background of the transformation of the modern system of international relations, the emerging new model of the global economy and trade, will undoubtedly contribute to further rapprochement between Uzbekistan and the UAE, building even closer interstate relations for the benefit of the interests of the peoples of our countries.

Alisher Qodirov,

Head of ISRS Department under the 

President of the Republic of Uzbekistan