Today, only Uzbekistan can offer Central Asia an agenda that will unite the region, says Alexander Knyazev, doctor of Historical Sciences, Leading Researcher at the Institute for International Studies at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Podrobno.uz reports.
"The leader of the region can be considered a country that is able to offer the region an agenda that will meet the interests of the development of all. Leadership is determined only by the ability of a country to impose or dictate its interest as a regional one. Such an ability over the past five years has been manifested only in the actions of Uzbekistan ", said the expert.
The only Central Asian state that unites the entire region not on all, but at least on many topical issues, is Uzbekistan, the expert pointed out.
"Of course, the criteria for such leadership cannot be static: today a country can be a leader in some indicators, and tomorrow it will turn into an outsider. Based on this, political and economic stability can be additionally designated as a criterion that allows one to claim leadership. As before, and in 2022, only two countries in the region met this criterion: Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan," Knyazev noted.
Considering that Turkmenistan steadily distances itself from any close cooperation with the countries of the region, only Uzbekistan is the country demonstrating the necessary political and economic stability, the expert believes.
"From this assessment, the events of late June - early July 2022 in Karakalpakstan can and should be considered an exception, but the subsequent situation there shows the ability of the leadership and elite of Uzbekistan to find solutions that can neutralize the risks associated with Karakalpakstan in the long term. At the same time, The January events of 2022 showed the scale and depth of the threats and risks of instability in Kazakhstan, and we can confidently say that these risks and threats have not been overcome," he concluded.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
January 18, 2023