Thanks to the political will of the leaders of the Central Asian states, in recent years Central Asia has managed to form a truly new political paradigm of cooperation. Many long-standing problems have been resolved, the process of economic cooperation has begun, human contacts have been activated,
Vladimir Norov, director of the International Institute of Central Asia, said in Dushanbe. He performed at international scientific and practical conference on the topic "Tajikistan - Central Asia: a policy of good neighborliness, mutual support, eternal friendship and common development," UzA.uz reports.
All this created the conditions for the transformation of our region into a single trade, investment, transport and communication platform. Projects of industrial cooperation are being implemented in various sectors of the economy, from the automotive industry to agriculture. Contacts between the regions of states are expanding, cultural and humanitarian ties are deepening, Norov said.
A stable Central Asia is already becoming one of the important centers of investment activity and economic growth. According to some experts, the total GDP of the countries of the region has grown by 20% over the past five years and exceeded $340 billion.
At the same time, speaking in the context of Uzbekistan, the trade turnover with the countries of the region has increased many times over. In recent years alone, its volumes have tripled and reached $7.4 billion.
For the first time in the history of Uzbekistan, together with Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, several infrastructure projects in the energy sector are being implemented, for example, the construction of large hydroelectric power plants on the Naryn and Zarafshan rivers. The same active dynamics of cooperation is observed in neighboring countries, Norov believes.
It was emphasized that as a result of general changes in the region, the consistent development by the states of Central Asia of agreed positions on intraregional issues and close coordination in the international arena has become clearly visible. The unified position of all the countries of the region began to sound within the framework of the UN, the CIS, the SCO, the OIC, the ECO and other platforms.
At the same time, it was noted that thanks to such positive changes in recent years, the countries of the region have developed a unique common approach to building relations with leading states and centers of power within the framework of the Central Asia Plus dialogue format (EU, India, China, Russia, USA, South Korea, Japan and the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf).
V. Norov also added that the most important goal and primary task is to achieve peace and economic prosperity in Central Asia.
Source: UzA.uz
CentralasianLIGHT.org
March 31, 2023